Two Ranmas!
by Zarrad
Summary: It seemed like a normal day in the Tendo dojo, up until the moment where Ranma changed into a girl. However, this time, he acted completely differently to what he normally did when he changed into a girl. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, if not for Happosai separating the 2 forms of Ranma apart. What will female Ranma be like? Will Ranma ever catch a break?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Gah!" Ranma yelled, fear evident in his voice. He had just woken up from a terrible nightmare, where his curse was removed from his body. On any other day he would be delighted to get rid of his curse; however the vision of him not being able to turn into a girl when doused with cold water haunted him, for some reason.

_Why am I scared of losing my curse? I've always wanted it gone!_ He wondered to himself. He had made numerous attempts to get rid of his curse before with no regret. So why did he suddenly feel as if his world had crumbled in front of him when the curse was removed in his dream? He then realised why this was, he had lived with the curse for about two years and lived in the Tendo dojo for a year. It must have gotten to the point where it was natural for him to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water, to the point where he couldn't live without the curse.

From the very beginning, when he had fallen into the spring of the drowned girl, his pride had been wounded immensely. On top of that his male form could no longer enjoy cold water without changing into a girl. His life had changed dramatically and he wanted nothing more but to change it back to the way it was. But now it appears that his life revolves around changing gender with different water temperatures. He realised then that he wouldn't know how to react if he didn't change into a girl when splashed with cold water.

However that wasn't the only thing that happened during his trip to Jusenkyo. From that day when he was cursed, he had felt that there was more than one person inside of him, that more than one person lived within him waiting to break free. Up to this point he had shrugged of this feeling as being nothing important but with this nightmare having occurred he wondered if the spirit was trying to break free from his body. He suddenly felt sympathy for her, her spirit might be trapped inside his body forever and she had no say in the matter.

_Ryoga says that I have it easy just because I stay human when I get splashed with cold water but what if he's wrong? What if I have it rougher because I feel sorry with the girl spirit? I wonder if anyone has even thought that through before thinking that I'm just a lucky person._

He quickly dismissed that thought as just being complete nonsense, which he would say was because of the fact that he has woken up at 3:00 am in the morning. Despite this, he didn't feel like sleeping, for some odd reason, even though just moments ago he was ready to go back to sleep. He decided that he might as well get some early morning training done.

"Oh why am I overreacting over some dumb dream? It has nothing to do with what's happening right now with my life." He said quietly to himself as he walked through the hallway upstairs. It was apparent that he was trying to convince himself that the dream was pointless. Despite this he couldn't shake of the nagging feeling that something had changed within him, where from something would happen that would change his life once again.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was a bright and sunny morning when Akane Tendo woke up. She woke up at 8:00 am in the morning, which surprised her as her normally would wake up after another 2 hours of sleep.

_Waking up early for school must be getting to me. It looks like I can't wake up later than 8:00 am anymore. This is just fantastic. _She thought to herself begrudgingly, she hated waking up early in the morning. To this day she still had no idea how Mr Saotome and Ranma manage to wake up at 6:00am just for an early morning workout. Whilst she was walking down the hall she could grunts coming from the dojo, which unsurprisingly sounded like Mr Saotome and Ranma in the middle of their early morning warm-up.

She ignored them and continued to walk into the bathroom. She could hear the grunts becoming louder and eventually turning into yelling. This was the typical routine whenever the Saotomes would fight. Mr Saotome would do something to annoy Ranma, who would then just strike back at him. They would eventually begin yelling at each other and they would try to fight on the rock outside the Tendo dojo. One of them would then fall into the cold lake they have outside, triggering their curse. It happened every morning, so much so that the Tendos were used to it by now.

After the Saotomes had finished their squabble for today they both rushed into the living room desperate to get some food. As usual Ranma would eat an unreal amount of food, so much that Akane sometimes wondered how he managed to digest it all and not gain one pound of fat. He would eat these amounts every day and still keep his body in perfect condition, something that everyone was envious of.

"So, Ranma my boy, how come when I came into the dojo you were training? You never wake up before me. Are you okay?" Genma asked, slightly curious as to what made his son want to do some early morning training.

"I'm fine; I just woke up in the middle of the night and didn't feel like sleeping, so I decided to train." Ranma replied casually. He didn't want anyone to know about the nightmare that he had.

"So, basically you had a nightmare and you were too afraid to go back to sleep." Nabiki concluded in her direct tone. Ranma flinched; he really was bad at lying. Only one second and Nabiki figured out everything. He decided he would work on that after he got out of this mess.

"He had a nightmare? Oh dear God, why! Why has my son faced a nightmare! Oh the sorrow a father must go through!" Genma yelled woefully, clinging onto his son like his life depended on it. The Tendo family were used to his antics by this point so they weren't fazed by this.

"For the last time pop, I'm fine!" Ranma yelled as he kicked his father outside the living room and conveniently onto the cold lake outside. Genma, in panda form, stood up, glaring at his son for sending him into the water. He charged towards him intending to do the same. Unfortunately for him Ranma was used to this by now and he was quicker than him so he very easily avoided Genma.

"Nice try Pops, but we've been through this too many times. Do you really think I'm gonna keep falling for it all the time?" Ranma asked with a slight sarcastic tone. While he was saying that, he didn't notice Genma sneak up to him, as his eyes were closed. His eyes shot open as he was being lifted into the air and thrown into the water.

"Gaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" Ranma yelled, he knew what was going to happen next, he would turn into a girl and continue his fight with his father. Or at least that was how it was meant to happen. Everything up till this point was normal. But everything changed when Ranma said those 3 words as soon as he got out of the lake.

* * *

"Where am I?" Ranma said slowly as she walked out of the lake. She clutched her head as if she was in pain. Genma had changed back to his normal self; he stared at Ranma carefully after she said those words.

"What are you talking about my boy? We're at the Tendo dojo!" Genma stated.

"Tendo dojo?" Ranma replied, with a confused expression plastered on her face.

"Yes! Why are you acting so confused? Don't you trust your own father?!" He yelled, his voice showing how confused he was by Ranma's attitude.

"…..Who are you?" She asked slowly. Akane and the other Tendo's gasped at what they just witnessed. Genma wasn't doing any better, he held an almost comical expression of disbelief at Ranma's words.

"What do you mean by that? Don't you recognise your own father, Ranma?!" He continued to yell in his tone of disbelief. He figured something was up with Ranma but he hadn't assumed that it would be anything this bad.

"Ranma? My name is Ranko, not Ranma." 'Ranko' clarified. By this point, Genma had a lost expression on his face. The Tendo family started to get out of their seats, in an effort to try and help Ranma remember who Genma was.

"What are you talking about Ranma? Why are you pretending to not remember Mr Saotome?" Akane asked. She was also very confused by how Ranma was acting as well.

"Look I don't know who you people are but back off! I know martial arts and I'm not afraid of fighting you!" 'Ranko' threatened, she got into her fighting stance just in case the Tendos tried attacking her.

"Alright I've had enough. Ranma stop playing dumb would you? It's really getting pathetic now." Nabiki bluntly said, she may not show it but she hoped that Ranma would give up her little act so that she could be less worried about her.

"Stop calling me Ranma! I told you people before that my name is Ranko!" Ranko yelled as she ran away from the Tendo household. She didn't know why these people were insisting that they know her. She never met them before. The last thing Ranko remembered was being in that spring in Jusenkyo. She was drowning in that spring and thought that she was gonna die. Apparently she didn't though. She wondered what she would do next. Her parents died the day before she was stuck in the spring; she had attempted to drown herself in the spring to escape all the misery and pain she had to go through.

As she thought over what she tried to do, she realised that it was a mistake to try and end her own life. That wasn't what her parents wanted. She decided then that she would try to become the best martial artist in the world, which was what her dream was from the very beginning. Unfortunately for her, just as she was going to walk off to find some training grounds, a splash of hot water hit her and she fell down, unconscious.

* * *

When Ranma woke up from unconsciousness, he realised that he was not in the Tendo dojo. He wasn't too far away but he was confused at how he managed to end up on the streets. _What's going on this time? _He had a feeling that something was up, as that was normally the case with him. When he got back to the dojo; he was greeted by his lunatic father crying on the doorstep.

"Pop, what's wrong?" He asked. He was used to his father being overdramatic and pathetic, but he wasn't used to seeing him crying outside for no reason. He received a glare in response.

"Boy! Have you no shame for what you've done?!" Genma yelled. Ranma was getting very confused now. What did his father mean by that?

"Did something happen yesterday?" He asked. He wanted to know why his father was acting more strange than usual. Genma's glare diminished only slightly before he continued speaking.

"Of course something happened! You refused to acknowledge your own father!" He wailed, falling back into tears. Ranma was wondering whether to be confused or to be annoyed at his father's crying. It was getting ridiculous now.

"What do you mean I didn't acknowledge you? You must be crazy or something old man." Ranma asked, shaking his head at the antics of his father. He could hear his father yell in response, but for the most part, he ignored him. _Pop's just acting all strange. _He concluded before walking to Akane's that, though, he still felt that something was up. _I'll just go ask Akane about it. _When he got upstairs, he found Akane glaring at him. He gulped before acting defensive.

"What?" Ranma asked, now wondering why Akane was angry at him. She just scoffed before replying to his question.

"Why did you go and ignore us, Ranma?!" Akane yelled at him, sending Ranma into further confusion.

"What're talking about? Did I do something?" He asked, trying to understand why his father and now Akane were mad at him. She just glared at him before answering his question.

"Of course you did you idiot! You just ignored us and ran off!" She yelled before running off downstairs, leaving Ranma to his thoughts. _Is...Is she right? Did I do that? _The problem was, he didn't remember ever doing that. It did explain how he ended up outside, away from the dojo. _Why can't I remember it then? What's going on around here? _He wasn't sure what was going on, but Akane and his dad were annoyed at him for something. He had no choice now. He would have to look into it.

_Now, where do I start? _He thought about this for a while before finally deciding to just talk to everyone else about what they saw. He found Kasumi wandering around the kitchen, as she almost always did. She turned around and smiled at him.

"Are you feeling better now, Ranma?" She asked sweetly.

"What do you mean now? What happened this morning Kasumi?" Ranma asked, hoping to get some answers to his sea of questions. Kasumi looked thoughtful for a moment before answering him.

"If you mean after you turned into a girl, then I can tell you exactly what happened." Kasumi stated. Ranma was slightly puzzled. _I turned into a girl? _He remembered being smacked into the pond but he didn't actually remember turning into a girl. He ignored it for now and asked Kasumi what she saw.

"You were acting differently, Ranma. You even went as far to say that you didn't remember your own father. When we tried to ask you what was wrong, you just ran off." Kasumi stated, sending another sea of questions towards Ranma. _I said that? I don't remember doing that though. _Something was going on. Something was wrong, and Ranma had to find out what it was.

"Thanks Kasumi, I owe you one." Ranma stated before walking off to the living room to think about how he would solve this mess. _So, apparently, when I turned into a girl this morning I couldn't remember who anyone was. I then ran off towards the streets. If I'm a guy now, then I must have turned back into a guy when I was on the streets. Still, what does this mean? _He didn't know what to make of it. It was so confusing for him to understand. He was so into his thoughts that he didn't notice Kasumi walking in the living room and slipping on something. She had been carrying cold water, so when she tripped, she splashed it all over Ranma. He collapsed immediately, causing Kasumi to gasp.

"Ranma! Wake up." She begged, trying to nudge him for any reaction. Ranma, as a girl, got up slowly. She was clutching her head, as if she was experiencing some headache. Kasumi looked relieved.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Kasumi said loudly. She had thought that Ranma was in deep pain, but he seemed to be fine. Everyone had entered the living room as soon as they heard Kasumi gasp. Ranma looked at everyone before yelping in surprise.

"Why am I back here? Who are you people?!" She yelled out, startling everyone once again. Ranma was acting how he did this morning when he was a girl. Genma wasn't gonna let him get away this time though. He walked towards her, keeping eye contact with her.

"What do you mean you don't recognise us Ranma?!" Genma yelled. He was ready to stop Ranma if she tried to escape now. She looked at him in confusion before glaring at him.

"I told you before that I'm Ranko! I don't know who this 'Ranma' is that you're looking for." She yelled. How had she ended up here? She remembered that she was walking down the streets, calming thinking about what she would do. Then she went unconscious. The group of people she saw just gaped at her, especially the one right in front of her.

"Not again boy! Why do you keep denying that you know us?" Genma asked. 'Ranko' looked like she was gonna try to escape, which was not unnoticed by Soun. He immediately blocked the exit, preventing 'Ranko' from escaping.

"Son, please answer his question." Soun requested, making 'Ranko' glare at him now.

"Why do you insist that I'm a guy? I'm clearly a girl!" She proclaimed, pointing at herself. She was so annoyed at Genma and Soun in front of her that she didn't notice Nabiki splashing her with hot water. She suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed, unconscious once again.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Hey Guys! Thank you to all of you who are now following the story. I didn't expect that many people to be following it only after the first 2 chapters, though I'm not complaining. Also, with regards to uploading new chapters, I'll be uploading 2 chapters every weekend. Anyways, once again, thanks for following me and I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Whe…..Where am I?" Ranma asked to himself. He was currently in his male form, he noted, with the Tendos and his father glaring at him.

"You're still in the dojo Ranma. Or should I say Ranko?" Nabiki sneered at him, she wasn't very happy with having to pay a lot of money to look for him, only to then find him in the middle of the pavement unconscious.

"Ranko? What are you talking about Nabiki?" Ranma asked. He felt that he was missing something very important that Nabiki was hinting at. By the looks of everyone else in the dojo, it seemed that they knew what Nabiki was talking about.

"That's what you said your name was Ranma!" Akane yelled at him. She was also frustrated by the fact that she worried for him during her entire day in the dojo; only to find him back in the dojo not remembering anything, according to him.

"What are you talking about? I never said that!" Ranma yelled back feeling self-conscious from all the glares being directed at him. Aside from that he truly had no idea what they were talking about.

"Oh come on boy! Don't try to lie to us now! You clearly said that when you were a girl!" Genma yelled.

"I turned into a girl?"

"Yes. Then you said your name was Ranko" Kasumi said calmly and quietly, trying to help Ranma figure out what was going on.

"Then why can't I remember being in girl form just now?" Ranma asked. He was really confused by what was going on. Apparently he said that he was called Ranko in his female form.

"Stop playing dumb! You know what you said son!" Soun joined in on the attack against Ranma.

"Look, the last thing I remember is that I was in the living room, trying to figure out this mess myself. I don't remember anything after that!" Ranma yelled back, hoping against all hope that they would believe him. Unfortunately for him, they never believed a word he said.

"Yeah, sure! Next you're gonna say that you and your girl form are two different people now, or something stupid like that!" Akane yelled sarcastically. She was fed up with Ranma always creating trouble. It was always Ranma's fault whenever it happened as well.

Ranma sighed. It was clear that no one believed him. _It's always like this. _He thought to himself angrily before remembering what Akane just said. _Wait, could that be it? _

"Wait, say that again Akane. What did you just say?" Ranma asked her, hoping to try and figure out what mess he's gotten himself into this time.

"I said that you're gonna say that you and your girl form are two different people now." Akane repeated for Ranma. She wasn't sure why Ranma wanted her to repeat that but she generally didn't know what was going inside his head. Ranma looked at her for a moment before slamming his fist onto his palm

"What are you thinking about now, boy?" Genma asked.

"Now let's see if I got this straight. When I turned into a girl, I said that I didn't recognise any of you, am I right?" Ranma asked, his voice significantly calmer. Everyone looked startled by his question; although Ranma felt that they were more startled by his cool expression. _They really think I'm a complete idiot, don't they? _He thought to himself in annoyance.

"Now that you mention it she didn't. She kept insisting that she didn't know us." Kasumi answered hoping that Ranma had figured out what was wrong. They were surprised when they heard someone else, namely Cologne, speak up. They didn't even notice her enter the dojo.

"Then that has to mean that Ranma and his girl form are two different people now. That's the only possible explanation for why he can't remember being in girl form and why she couldn't remember any of you." Cologne stated, her voice sounding very grave. Ranma didn't believe what Cologne had just said, at first, but then he thought about it carefully. _It sounds crazy, but it's the only way this actually makes any sense. _

"Yeah, that has to be it! That must be why me and my girl form act differently!" Ranma for him, no one else seemed to agree with him and Cologne.

"There are two things Ranma. First it's 'My girl form and I' not 'Me and my girl form'. Secondly, do you really think we're gonna believe that ridiculous story." Nabiki asked, she was quite bemused by Ranma's attempts to try and avoid the blame.

"But Nabiki I'm telling the truth!" Ranma proclaimed loudly. He knew that no one would believe him, no one ever does, but he had no other way to try and convince them.

"Then why is it happening now? Why didn't it happen before? Why now?" Akane asked this time, trying to get rid of Ranma's idea. She was fed up of all of Ranma's excuses. Throughout all this time, Cologne managed to sneak her way out of the dojo. Ranma just sighed.

"Here we go again. I try to tell the truth, no one ever listens to me. Why can't one of you guys accept, what I have to say, as the truth for a change, or is that too much to ask for?!" Ranma yelled finally losing it. He was angry now. This happened every single time he was in some sort of mess. Along with angry he was dejected that no one has ever accepted his word for the truth, which everyone was able to see in the midst of their stunned silence.

"Ranma I -"

"Save it. It happens all the time. I should be used to it by now." He cut off Akane with his now cold voice. It was obvious that he been gradually building up this anger for some time. What Ranma didn't notice was the bottle of cold water being splashed across the table and hitting him. He then collapsed, unconscious once again.

* * *

"Ugh, what's going on?" Ranma asked in his female form

"You were splashed with the water from my water bottle, Ranma, sorry." Nabiki replied offhandedly, she was clearly trying to prevent Ranma from getting angry at her splashing water over him.

"It's you! Why are you people chasing me? And for the final time I'm called Ranko not Ranma." She stated irritably. It was apparent that she was not comfortable with the Tendo family.

"Alright then, 'Ranko', besides meeting us, what's the last thing you can remember? You might as well tell us, we're not letting you go until we get some answers." Soun Tendo asked, his authority showing.

"…..Fine I'll talk. The last thing I remember is when I tried to drown in a spring in Jusenkyo." Ranko sighed; she didn't want to talk and especially not about her attempted suicide. But she had no choice, this crazy family wouldn't allow her to leave, she could see that. As expected everyone gasped and just sat in a stunned silence for a while.

"Well, it looks like Ranma wasn't lying after all." Genma Saotome stated. He had a suspicion that Ranma was telling the truth from the beginning but Ranma had to become sturdy and mentally strong. The lengths he would go for just to make his son stronger were just amazing. Or so he thought.

"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma, this person is all you people talk about! Who is he?!" Ranko yelled fed up of hearing that name. She however felt a slight tug in her mind, as if she should know who he is; like they were connected somehow.

"Ranma Saotome is a martial artist who is engaged to Akane Tendo over there. He is also my son." Genma stated, clarifying Ranko on who Ranma is.

"Well, what does he have to do with me? Why do you all keep confusing me for him?" Ranko asked, curious as to what the reason was. Also, it was because she was tired of being called Ranma.

"Alright, this may take a while though so be ready. It all started when…

* * *

"…and that's how you change between a boy and a girl." Genma concluded. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, the story took an hour to tell. However, Ranko didn't look too happy with it. Her face looked like she had seen a ghost.

"So I did die after all?" She asked quietly. It took a lot of willpower to prevent her from crying though.

"….Yes. I'm sorry but you were successful on your attempt at suicide. Right now you are in Ranma's body." Genma replied, for once acting seriously. He knew that the girl would be distraught with what he said, but he decided that it was better to tell a harsh truth rather than tell a happy lie.

Ranko didn't know what to think. She had died after all. What would her parents think of her now? She couldn't hold it in anymore; she let out a strangled sob. Nobody knew how to act. They were not used to seeing 'Ranma' cry so they didn't know how to console her.

A few minutes had passed. Ranko had managed to stop crying enough to ask her next question.

"So why do I have those memories now? If what you say is true then it should be Ranma's mind that is in control right now. So why is it not happening now?" She asked, not even trying to hide her depression. 5 more minutes had passed, yet there was still no answer from anyone, as no one knew the reason for this happening.

"Well, someone? Please answer me?! Why have I taken control of this Ranma's body all of a sudden?!" Ranko yelled desperately wanting an answer for this mess.

"I believe I can explain that." Happosai answered, his tone was grave, which indicated the seriousness of the situation as Happosai was normally never grave. He was holding some kind of liquid in his hand as he walked towards the table. Everyone looked at him expectantly, hoping for an answer as he promised

"I'm a bit in the deep like you guys are but here's what I know. For some reason there is some conflict within Ranma's body. If I had to guess, I'd say that he has stored so much anger in his body that it is beginning to affect the balance between both of your souls in your body. Due to this, instead of Ranma taking complete control as normal, you take full control when you're a female and Ranma takes full control when he is a male. The only way to resolve this is by separating the both of you." Happosai said in his most serious voice possible.

"How do we do that, Master?" Genma asked.

"I have some liquid which will separate the two souls within Ranma's body into separate bodies. They will stay apart for about 1 month. This should be enough time for Ranma's body to remove that conflict." Happosai stated.

"So basically now we have to look after Ranma and Ranko now?" Nabiki asked, she was clearly not happy about this. This meant that she would have to pay for Ranko as well now.

"To put it simply, yes. Now stand back as I separate the two souls." Happosai declared as he poured the liquid onto Ranko.

Suddenly there was a bright flash, which emitted from Ranko. The light then split off into 2 sections, one was shaped like Ranma, and the other was shaped like Ranko. The bright light faded slowly. When everyone opened their eyes they noticed Ranma and Ranko scratching their heads. They turned around and caught each other in the eye.

"Who are you?!" They both yelled, in unison.

"I asked first, now answer me, who are you?!" They both yelled, at the same time again.

"Argggh! Why are you making it so complicated?!" Both of them yelled, in unison once again. They continued for another couple of minutes. During this time everyone managed to have a large sweat drop fall from the back of their heads.

"It's just a hunch but I'm guessing that, as those two are alike and have shared the same body for about 2 years, they will subconsciously know each other inside out, therefore they will probably do things in unison a lot." Happosai said, which everyone collectively groaned on.

"How long does this last for again?" Nabiki asked, exasperated at this point.

"1 month, we better get used to it." Happosai replied sadly.

They all continued to watch the two argue for a while until they got bored and tired and went to sleep. Ranma and Ranko were also both exhausted from today and so they both collapsed on top of each other on the floor.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: **One quick clarification. In my story Ranko is not Ranma's other half, or Ranma in girl form. Ranko is the girl who drowned in the spring in Jusenkyo. I thought that calling her Ranko would be more appropriate, but essentially, Ranko is a different person to Ranma. Just wanted to confirm that.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

It was a bright and early morning. Normally Genma would get up and go to train with his son in their early morning warm-up. However, as he walked towards the living room to get his son up, he noticed that Ranma and Ranko were already up. It seemed like they were in a conversation. The sensible thing which Genma should have probably done was walk away until their conversation was done. Yet, instead of that, he decided to eavesdrop on their conversation. It was clear that Ranma was the one asking questions whilst Ranko answered them for him.

"So your name is Ranko?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, you're Ranma, right?" Ranko asked in return.

"Yeah, that's me. You're from Jusenkyo aren't you?"

"Yes."

"How come we're split apart?"

"Because your body is apparently in some sort of conflict, which is why I've been taking control when you turned into a girl. Apparently the only thing we can do is stay separated for 1 month, until your body gets rid of that conflict." She replied, reiterating what Happosai had told everyone.

"1 month?!" Ranma yelled. He was clearly in shock, which was probably due to the time they had to be split apart being so long.

"Yes you idiot! 1 month!" Ranko yelled. It was apparent that she was getting fed up of all the questions being thrown at her.

Ranma didn't reply. He continued staring straight ahead of him. 1 month? He would be a normal person for one month; it was like his dreams had come true. But is that what he really wanted? Did he really want to get rid of the curse once and for all?

"Ranma?" Ranko asked, noticing the guy in front of her had a distant look in his eyes.

He still didn't reply. He was busy thinking about what he really wanted. He was reminded of his nightmare just a night ago. He wondered that if he did get rid of the curse, would he end up regretting it?

"Ranma?" Ranko asked again, hoping to get a response out of him this time.

He still didn't respond.

"Ranma!" She yelled, slapping him in the face. Ranma's eyes jolted back to reality as he stared back into Ranko's eyes. Ranko withdrew her angry gaze immediately and stared back into his eyes. They were in complete silence for a couple of minutes. Ranma and Ranko were staring at each other in the eye, while Genma was anxious to see what would happen next. What he didn't notice, though, was that he was about to step onto the broken piece of the floor, which would definitely make a loud sound. It did make a loud sound, which Genma cringed at. Ranma and Ranko broke their gaze and turned to see who their intruder was. Genma could only smile sheepishly at them as they both stared at him.

"What were you doing here, pop?" Ranma asked.

"I came to wake you up for our early morning workout, but I see you're a bit preoccupied right now." Genma said teasingly. He got the response he was looking for. Both Ranma and Ranko blushed, which very quickly turned into glares. Genma started shivering.

"Look, it was only a joke!" Genma laughed nervously, hoping that he would get out of the mess he got himself in, in one piece.

"Right. Anyway let's start the morning workout." Ranma said. His voice was very sinister and maniacal. Genma knew what this meant. His son would not hold back in the morning spar.

"Ri-Right! Let's go." Genma stated nervously.

"Wait! Let me join you!" Ranko pleaded, hoping to get involved in their workout.

"Ranko? Why do you want to join us?" Ranma asked.

"Because I'm also a martial artist, so I'm interested. And I would probably get bored staying here. So, what do you say?" She asked again, hoping to get a good answer.

"Okay, why not? You can join us." Genma replied.

"Thank you very much Mr Saotome." Ranko said in response. She also bowed her head in respect to Genma.

"Oh, it's nothing. You can even spar with us if you want." Genma offered. His main reason for offering that was to see how strong she was.

"Okay then, I'll spar with both of you after you two are done." Ranko replied in a happy tone.

"It's done!" Genma said loudly as he began walking towards the dojo, with Ranma and Ranko in pursuit. He wanted to see whether Ranko could match Ranma and himself in combat. _She probably won't though; I don't think she's that strong._

* * *

_Okay, I take what I said back, she is that strong. _Genma thought as he got beaten almost instantly by Ranko. He didn't even know how it happened. One moment he was in his fighting stance, the next he was on the floor.

"Talk about embarrassing, you lost even quicker than when I beat you." Ranma stated casually, further destroying his father's pride.

"Alright then, you fight her! Let's see how quickly you lose to her!" Genma yelled in his angry response, hoping to see his ungrateful son get beaten down by the seemingly skilled martial artist Ranko.

"Well, what do you say, Ranko?" Ranma asked as he looked at her directly.

"Sure, bring it on!" She replied, she agreed quickly because she felt quite confident after her victory against Mr Saotome. She was also happy to have another opponent.

They both went off to the opposite sides of the dojo and turned around. They had mirrored fighting stances and were ready to fight, glaring at each other in the eye. The Tendo family had all woken up at this point to see what the big fuss was. Any sleep they had in their eyes had immediately been removed from seeing what was about to happen.

"Alright! 3! 2! 1! Fight!" Genma yelled at the top of his lungs, whilst banging the gong that he had pulled out from seemingly nowhere.

Within seconds the two were at each other's throats. As the first few blows connected, Ranma started to fight on the offensive, as he normally did, attacking and searching for any weak point in Ranko's defence. However, Ranko appeared to be dodging his blows in such an easy manner that she made Ranma look incredibly slow, when it was the other way around. She wasn't tiring out either, that was what annoyed Ranma. As he was about to attempt another punch, he was quickly beaten down by a quick kick from Ranko.

As he got up, reeling from the kick, Ranma quickly realised that Ranko was no ordinary martial artist. He decided to concentrate on his defence and let his muscles settle into the rhythm of their little dance. As he expected, Ranko started to go on the offensive, trying to break through his defences. Unluckily for her, Ranma had a lot of practice in using his defence. He had gotten most of it from battling Ryoga and all the other people who tried to attack him.

After several minutes of attempting to get past Ranma's defences, Ranko still didn't show signs of losing her temper. She was slightly shocked at how strong Ranma was, though. She had expected a quick defeat like her previous match with Genma, not an equal opponent.

After more time had quickly passed between the two, Genma realised that those two were evenly matched. They had counters for each of each other's moves. It was impossible for either of them to win. He decided that those two would have to stop, before they use up all their energy in this one fight.

"Stop! That's enough you two. This match is a draw! Besides it's time for breakfast!" Genma declared, hoping that the two would cease their breath-taking fight. As much as he would have liked to continue watching that fight, he couldn't allow them to waste all their energy this early in the morning.

Ranma and Ranko both heaved a sigh of relief. They were both kneeling down onto the floor, breathing slightly quicker than normal. They both looked up towards each other. Ranma smirked as he got up from kneeling on the floor.

"Heh, it's been a while since I've had such a strong opponent. Nice match Ranko." Ranma stated as he walked up to her. He held out his hand for her to pick up. She picked it up, wearing the same smirk that Ranma had just now.

"The same goes to you Ranma Saotome. Same to you." She grinned at him. He returned her grin as he helped her get up. As soon as she got up, they both turned around to see the Tendo family and Genma look at them dumbfounded. Since when did Ranma act so…noble? He's not meant to act noble!

"Well, shouldn't we be eating breakfast by now?" Ranma asked them, wearing the same smirk he had moments ago.

The surprised family just nodded and went off to go and eat.

"Oh and Kasumi, can you please make a bit extra than normal? I think me and Ranko will need it after a match like that." Ranma reminded her. He was actually very hungry. He imagined that Ranko would be as well. As he thought about Ranko, one question came to his mind immediately. _Why is she so strong?_

* * *

After everyone had finished eating breakfast, well after Ranma and Ranko had finished their large supply of food, they turned to ask Ranko a few questions. Soun Tendo was the first.

"So, Ranko, how did you manage to beat Genma here so easily?" He asked, desperate to know how his friend got defeated so quickly. Ranma had told them of Ranko's spar with Genma and how Genma had lost almost instantly.

"I just managed to catch him off guard very quickly, that's it." Ranko said casually. She was quite tired from sparing with Ranma so she didn't have too much energy to respond in a better manner. She also didn't feel like bruising the man's ego any further, after all he allowed her to spar with them. She then looked to Akane, who looked as if she was about to burst from asking her question.

"How on earth did you get so strong? You're as strong, if not stronger than Ranma is!" Akane yelled, asking that one question which was on everyone's mind. Ranma would normally rebuke at being called weaker compared to someone else but he also wanted to know why Ranko was so strong, so he resisted the urge to deny Akane's statement.

"I've been learning martial arts since I was 2 years old, and I've been training every day since then." Ranko replied. She only gave the brief account of why she was strong though, these people didn't need to know that her father continually pressed her to become one of the strongest fighters in the world.

"That's amazing! This means you started learning martial arts at around the same time when I began teaching Ranma the martial arts." Genma stated quite loudly.

"You and Ranma also have mirrored fighting stances as well." Akane added, noticing how similar the two were in their fighting life.

"Huh? Now that I think about it…..you're right Akane! They have the exact same stance and fighting ability! This can only mean one thing!" Genma yelled out, noticing what Akane had picked up on. He had a strange glint in his eyes. This was noticed by Ranma.

"What are you saying now, pop?" Ranma sighed out loudly. Whenever his father had that glint in his eyes it only meant trouble for him. To make sure his father didn't further embarrass him he shot a glare towards him. It was a pain for him to actually deal with his father's stupid antics, but he was getting used to it, he also found out how to keep him quiet. Unfortunately for Ranma his glare didn't appear to work, his father just had to ruin his day for him no matter what.

"Why, I'm implying that you two are in love of course!" Genma stated. Kasumi gasped as the rest of the Tendo family went deathly silent. Ranma and Ranko began blushing fervently, which very quickly turned into deadly glares towards Genma. He immediately started walking backwards hoping to avoid the two.

"Ah, you two know that it was a joke right?" Genma asked nervously. Ranma and Ranko said nothing; they just continued to walk closer towards Genma, still holding their deadly glares. He gulped

"Look, why don't we talk this out? I can explain." He laughed nervously, hoping against hope that the two would listen to him. They didn't.

"Get lost old man!" Both Ranma and Ranko yelled simultaneously, they even kicked him out of the dojo at the same time. They both, then, turned around to meet the unwavering gaze of Soun Tendo.

"You two, is what Genma said true?" Soun asked, his voice was completely serious.

"No it isn't, of course not! We don't even know each other that well!" They both exclaimed hoping to convince Mr Tendo that what Genma said was a pathetic lie. However, Soun Tendo was not easily convinced.

"You seem to be talking in unison a lot. Is it just a coincidence?" He argued, batting an eyelash towards them. He didn't want to believe that Genma Saotome was right about those two but the evidence seemed incriminating.

"That's because we've been inside the same body for over 2 years! It's like Happosai said, we would subconsciously know each other!" Ranma countered, trying desperately to prove that there was nothing between him and his female counterpart, Ranko. _Why does pop always have to make everything so damn complicated! _He thought angrily to himself.

Soun Tendo thought about it for a minute. He supposed that they were right; they had been stuck together in the same body for a while now. They would have gotten used to each other's habits by now.

"Alright then, I agree that there's nothing between the two of you." He declared. Ranma and Ranko heaved a sigh of relief. The last thing they both wanted was to cause tension with the Tendos.

"Say, now that I think about where is the Master any-"

"What a haul! What a haul!" The said master exclaimed as he jumped from the window onto the floor of the Tendo dojo. He then looked around to see everyone looking at him. He eyed Ranko for a while before jumping on her chest.

"Somebody pinch me, because I think I've just died and gone to heaven!" He yelled, rubbing his face all over Ranko's chest. He apparently didn't notice the deadly glare Ranko was sending towards him.

"Grrrrrrrr...damn you dirty old man! Get out of here!" She yelled, punching him in the same direction where Mr Saotome ended up flying.

"Well now, are we done? I have to see Dr Tofu about something. Say, Ranma, Akane would you like to come with me? I'm sure Dr Tofu would like to see you both again" Kasumi asked in her usual sweet innocent voice.

"Yeah, let's go before the freak gets back here." Ranma agreed. He then turned around to Ranko.

"Ranko, you wanna join us?" He asked her.

"Me?"

"Yeah, come join us! It'll be fun." He asked her again, this time smiling at her.

"Well…okay. I'll join you guys then, if it's not too much trouble for you?" She replied. She was blushing at the smile Ranma just gave her. She didn't know why but she was feeling strange about that smile that Ranma just gave her. She began thinking to herself about what it meant.

Akane glared at her, she didn't like how Ranma smiled at her. Why was he acting so differently towards Ranko? He was acting much nicer to her than he did to anyone else, which really annoyed Akane. She also didn't like how Ranko blushed in response. She didn't know what kind of person Ranko was, or whether or not she liked Ranma, but she didn't like what was happening one bit.

"Oh no, that would be no trouble at all. The more the merrier I say, right Akane?" Kasumi responded pleasantly, looking at her youngest sister for a response.

"Yeah she's right, the more the merrier." Akane answered through gritted teeth. She really didn't like the vibe Ranko was giving on Ranma. If she thought she would be able to get closer to him that easily, she obviously didn't know Akane Tendo.

"Uh, let's go before Dr Tofu ends up having to wait for us, he wouldn't want that, right?" Ranma asked, just now noticing the glare Akane was sending him and Ranko. He didn't know what he had done this time but, as usual, it didn't look good for him.

"Right! Let's go. We'll be back soon, father." Kasumi stated as she walked out of the door, with Ranma, Ranko and Akane in pursuit. Ranma for the sake of his life and well-being, Ranko for the sake of figuring out her feelings and Akane for the sake of pummelling Ranma with her huge mallet.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Hey Guys! I just want to say thanks for all the reviews I got. It was nice to read them all and see that you're interested in my story. I never expected this many people to be interested in the story, so I'm glad that you're enjoying it. Anyways, here's chapter 4!

**Chapter 4**

After having a rather awkward encounter with Dr Tofu, which mainly involved him acting strangely around Kasumi as usual, the group of 4 were calmly walking back home. Of course it wasn't that easy, though. Ryoga just happened to show up just then, with his usual glare towards Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!" Ryoga yelled as he charged out towards him. Ranma sighed; it was like this every time with Ryoga. For a brief moment he wondered how Ryoga did not notice Ranko. _Oh yeah, she went to the toilet, I forgot. _ He remembered just then before narrowly dodging one of Ryoga's punches. He looked at Ryoga to see his deadly glare usually plastered on his face.

The fight was on. Ryoga started on the offensive, hoping to beat Ranma down completely. What he didn't expect was the ease at which Ranma was dodging his punches. He casually dodged Ryoga's punches as if Ryoga was moving at the pace of a snail. _This must be from fighting Ranko earlier. _He realised, smirking at how his strength and his fighting ability had improved.

Ryoga was not so happy. He had been training for days now and he still was no better in fighting Ranma. His anger continued to boil. Why did that idiot always have to be one step ahead of him! He couldn't take it anymore, this time Ranma would pay for what he did. Just then, Ranko happened to be walking out of the building.

"Ranma! You will pay for what you did!" Ranko heard being yelled out by some guy who looked incredibly depressed. He also seemed to have a burning hatred for Ranma, who, speaking of, found himself running away from the depressed guy. Unfortunately for her, Ranma was running straight towards her!

"Ranma!" Ranko yelled this time, hoping to stop him from colliding with her. He looked up at her and then screamed as Ryoga connected a kick onto his back.

"Gahhhhhhhh!" He yelled, colliding with Ranko dead on. Ryoga paused for a second and had a bewildered expression on his face. If he wasn't delusional, there was the female form of Ranma with the male form of Ranma together. His mind began racing. _What….What's going on?! _He thought to himself as he watched the two collide.

Ranma had landed on top of Ranko, unluckily for him, he landed in an awkward position with Ranko. His head was just a few inches away from Ranko's chest. He and Ranko both began blushing. Akane and Kasumi both just gasped at the awkwardness of the situation. Ryoga was still lost in thought after seeing the two forms of Ranma at the same time. The awkward silence only lasted for a few seconds. Ranko was the first to recover from the situation; she immediately began glaring at Ranma, who was trying, but to no avail, to stop looking at her chest. He noticed the glare Ranko sent him and began backing away, hoping to avoid her wrath. If she was stronger than Akane then that meant she would hit harder.

"Uhhhhh, Ranko you realise that it was an accident, right?" He nervously said, hoping to soothe her anger. He really didn't want to check whether Ranko would hit harder, it would only mean bad news for him.

"Right. If it was just an accident, why were you staring at my chest then?" She asked angrily. She wasn't too happy with Ranma using that situation to peek at her. She continued to glare at him, waiting for an answer. He only gulped in response.

"Ummmm, we can talk this out, right?" He asked hopefully, hoping to dear God that she would agree.

Her glare only hardened.

"You wish!" She yelled as she smacked him upside in a violent manner.

"Owwwww!" He yelled out in pain. She did hit harder than Akane, much to his dismay. Unfortunately, he felt that he wasn't let off the hook yet. He was right. Akane was stood, glaring as fiercely as Ranko had been. He started backing away again, but it was inevitable as to what would happen next.

"Ranma, you pervert!" Akane yelled, smacking Ranma on the head with her huge mallet that she seemingly pulled out of nowhere. All Ranma could do was scream out in pain. It wasn't bad enough that he was hit by Ranko, now Akane too?

After Akane had stopped hitting Ranma with her mallet, she 'hmphed' and just walked away. She walked back to Kasumi, who was oblivious to the situation as usual. Ryoga just smirked at seeing Ranma's pain then quickly glared in anger as he realised that Ranma had just hurt poor Akane's feelings. Before he could do something about it, though, he was also smacked upside by Ranko.

"And don't think you're just gonna get off the hook! Why'd you kick Ranma into me?!" She asked in her forceful, demanding voice. She was as scary, if not scarier than Akane when mad. Ranma and Ryoga both made a mental note not to anger her again.

"Can someone please explain why both forms of Ranma are here?!" Ryoga asked, hoping to understand what was going on here. He was not expecting both form of Ranma to be here.

"Alright then, I'll explain it for you. It's a long story though so I hope you have time Ryoga." Kasumi said happily. This was it. No one can say no to Kasumi, she was just too innocent to say no to.

"I have time, go on. Tell me the story." He answered calmly, anxious to know the truth.

"Sure, it all started when…"

* * *

"…And that's it." Kasumi finally finished after what seemed to be an eternity of storytelling. Ryoga looked even more confused than he did before. He turned around to look at Ranma and then Ranko.

"So you're Ranko, the girl spirit who drowned in the spring in Jusenkyo?" He asked, wanting clarification from the one person herself.

"Yeah, in a nutshell, that's me." She replied, wanting to end this conversation as quickly as possible. She didn't really like talking about her drowning in Jusenkyo, it made her feel bad that she couldn't live on for her parent's sake. Ranma was quick to perceive on this, he knew that it would be a sore topic for her. He decided he would have to change the topic quickly.

"Ryoga, what did I do this time to make you mad?" He asked him, trying to prevent Ryoga from delving too deep into Ranko's drowning in Jusenkyo.

"You hurt poor Akane's feelings again, you jerk!" He yelled out, once again glaring at Ranma for what he did. Ranko looked at Ranma, sending him a look saying that she appreciated him ending their conversation. He just smirked in response, which Ryoga noticed.

"Look at you, as soon as a new girl comes in you immediately flirt with her and leave poor Akane in the dust. You disgust me." He snarled at him, the displeasure visible in his face.

"That's not true! I'm not that sort of person!" Ranma yelled back in rebuttal. He really was not that type of guy; it was always everyone else who assumes that whenever he conversed, or even looked at a girl, that he must be flirting with her.

"Oh please, this happens all the time Ranma. First Shampoo, then Ukyo and now Ranko here! Why are you always such a jerk?!" Akane decided to join in this argument between Ryoga and Ranma. She supported Ryoga's argument because she was sick of Ranma always going to see Ukyo or Shampoo for free food.

Now normally Ranma would just give up and let Akane and Ryoga chastise him further. But this time was different. He was getting annoyed with Ryoga and Akane always accusing him of flirting with every one of his friends, who happened to be a girl. This time, he sent an emotionless stare towards Ryoga and Akane. Everyone noticed that his demeanour had completely changed. In fact, it matched Ryoga's normal demeanour.

"Do you really think I'm that sort of person, Akane? Do you really?" Ranma asked, his voice bordering on depression. Everyone was stunned to hear that. Ranko didn't know what to think, she didn't know what everyone else were talking about so she remained silent. Akane and Ryoga both had a shocked look on their face. They weren't used to Ranma acting all depressed. Normally he would just complain about no one listening to him. They didn't know how to respond to a depressed Ranma.

"I…..uh…." Was all Akane could muster out. She wanted to say more than that but she didn't know what to say. Ranma had been depressed before but not like this! His gaze towards her showed that she hadn't helped the situation out at all.

"I guess it's true then. I thought that since we were friends you would realise by now that Shampoo, Ukyo and I are just friends. Didn't you know that Shampoo and Mousse have actually started a relationship? Or were you too busy blaming me for everything as usual?" He asked, with his voice cold and miserable. He simply had enough of this. He had ignored it at first, for the sake of their friendship. But something within him had snapped. Right now he wanted to get away from everyone as quickly as possible.

"Ranma, I-" This time Ryoga tried to say something, but he was immediately cut off by Ranma's cold voice.

"Save it Ryoga, I've had enough of you as well! It's gotten to the point where I'm not sure whether or not you're even my friend anymore!" Ranma yelled. He knew that he was over-reacting by looking at everyone's reaction, but he couldn't care less at this point. He stared coldly at them for a couple more seconds before he walked off, in the direction of the dojo.

"Ranma, wait!" Akane yelled hoping to stop him. He didn't. She was about to run after him when she felt someone grab her hand. She turned around. It was Kasumi who grabbed her hand.

"Akane, I think it's best that you give Ranma some time to think by himself. He's not in the best of state." Kasumi suggested.

"But I-" Akane protested, only to be cut off instantly by Kasumi.

"I know you want to apologize to him but right now it's not the right time to do so. He first needs to cool down before you can talk to him again." Kasumi stated calmly.

"But he's really upset here! I can't just let him mope around the dojo for a day." Akane protested, trying to convince Kasumi to allow her to apologize to Ranma.

"Please Akane; just listen to me this one time." Kasumi pleaded with her youngest sister.

"…Okay. I'll trust you on this one, Kasumi." Akane sighed.

"Thank you Akane. Now Ranko, Akane, I think it's best that we return to the dojo. While we walk there, Ranko, I'll explain what the conversation was about and what has happened over the 1 year we've known Ranma for." She added, noticing how Ranko was completely confused about this whole ordeal. She couldn't blame her; everyone here was also confused by what they just witnessed.

"Okay, then, should we go now?" Ranko asked carefully, not sure what else to do at this point. She couldn't really say anything, as she had no idea what's happened over the past year.

"Just one second, I need to you ask something Ryoga. I need to know, are you Ranma's friend or not? Or do you completely hate him? Kasumi asked. Ryoga almost consider calling her an idiot right there but the serious look on Kasumi's face convinced him not to.

"I..." Was all Ryoga could say. He didn't know what to say, he never thought about that this deeply.

"If you are then you need to start acting like one. I don't mean you shouldn't fight, I mean you should stop this hatred you have towards him." She stated, adding that bit about not completely having to stop fighting after seeing the lost boy's expression to her suggestion. Ryoga looked away from Kasumi, not sure what to think after hearing her say that. She just sighed after seeing that.

"Anyway it's just a suggestion, we'll find out if you hate him or not anyway. If you ignore him then you completely hate him. If you try to make amends then you want to be his friend. It's completely your choice to make Ryoga." Kasumi simply stated. Normally everyone would be surprised to hear Kasumi speak like that, but after witnessing Ranma's confession they weren't easily surprised anymore.

"Well then, let's go girls." Kasumi commanded, walking off towards the dojo, with the two girls in pursuit behind her. She didn't know why but she had an ominous feeling, she felt that something in her life would change as soon as someone would try to confront Ranma. For his sake and his friend's sake, she hoped that it would be a good change.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Whilst they were walking to the dojo, Kasumi explained the whole story to Ranko. She went through the entire 1 year in quite a bit of detail. After hearing what Kasumi had said, she couldn't blame Ranma for how he acted just a while ago. She was surprised that he hadn't done this before. _He must really value his friends then._ She thought to herself, as the trio were walking in complete silence. As soon as Kasumi, Akane and Ranko reached the dojo, they were immediately bombarded with question from Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome.

"What's gotten into the boy? He's acting more depressed than he ever did before!" Genma proclaimed. He was desperate to find out what had happened to his son.

"Yes, when we tried talking with him, he just walked away into the dojo and told us not to bother him with his training. Ranma never trains at this hour!" Soun exclaimed. Ranma normally liked to do most of his training in the morning, and before lunch. For the rest of the day he would just relax with his friends. That was the Saotome style of training. For him to go against that meant that he was completely serious about what he said a while ago.

"Father, I think it's best that we leave Ranma alone for tonight." Kasumi stated, reiterating what she told to Akane, Ranko and Ryoga. Both Genma and Soun were surprised at the serious tone of Kasumi's voice.

"So, what actually happened? If you're using a serious tone of voice, Kasumi, something bad must have happened." Nabiki asked whilst coming down the stairs. She still acted the same, cold and emotionless. She was curious as to what made Ranma mad this time. Whatever made him mad seemed to be really serious this time, which made it more…interesting. As no one wanted to say anything, Ranko decided to speak up.

"From what I heard, Ranma was unhappy at Akane and Ryoga constantly accusing him of flirting with every girl who was his friend. He also said something about not being sure whether or not Ryoga was his friend or not. Then he came back here." Ranko explained to the Tendo family and Genma. Soun and Nabiki were shocked, Akane had hung her head in shame, whilst Genma suddenly had a grave expression on his face.

"So the boy has finally snapped." He muttered to himself.

"What was that Genma?" Soun asked for clarification.

"No-Nothing! I'll go and try to cheer the boy up. He'll listen to his own father now won't he?" Genma stated, acting confident in his approach to cheering up his son. The lack of support from everyone, however, had rapidly shrunk his confidence.

This was no time to worry about that, though. His son needed him, and he would support him until Ranma finally decided to cheer up. _I'm here for you boy, I'll make sure you're alright. _Genma thought to himself as he walked towards the dojo. He decided to ignore the worried looks of the Tendos, he would only focus on helping Ranma and getting him into a better mood.

* * *

_Alright I give up, the boy's eternally depressed._ It was only 5 minutes since he entered the dojo and he was fresh out of ideas. He had tried everything, in other words he tried to force Ranma to lose the depressed guy act. A couple of seconds later he was on the floor, withering in pain from the quick attack from his son. _What a man has to do to cheer up his son. _He thought to himself whilst shedding tears. Ranma just grunted and got up off him.

"Jeez pop, you don't have to cry about it." Ranma said in his cold voice. He was expecting someone to try and cheer him up. Of course it would be his father, only he would be stupid enough to try and force him to be happy when he was miserable.

"Boy, can't you just forgive Akane and Ryoga? It's not good to be this depressed." Genma insisted, hoping that his son would listen to reason and agree with him.

"Sorry, but it's not happening. For the last year they've pretty much attacked me if I even looked at a girl. I've gone through this depression for an entire as well! I'm not gonna forgive them this easily!" He yelled, finally releasing all the anger he had built up. He had ignored it for a year but today was the final straw. Why should he constantly deal with this any longer? He gave his hardest glare towards his father.

_Darn, the boy's more serious than I thought. _He noted to himself, whilst gulping from Ranma's intense glare.

"Alright then, what would it take for you to let go of this anger?" Genma asked, noticeably more serious than he was when he entered the dojo. Ranma blinked for a moment, he hadn't expected to hear that question being asked by his father. However, he quickly reinforced his hard stare.

"I don't know. All that I know is that right now, I can't forgive them." He stated simply. Overreaction or not, he was going to stick with his plan.

"But Ranma-" Genma objected, only to get immediately cut off by Ranma's cold voice.

"Please leave, pop. I want to be alone for a while." Ranma asked from his father. He really wanted to just think quietly for himself. Genma was about to object to it, but after seeing Ranma's expression, he decided it was probably best that Ranma remained on his own.

"Will you come to eat dinner with us? It should be ready by now." Genma asked, with his voice sounding gloomier than before. Ranma thought for a while before answering.

"Yes. I'll eat dinner." That was the simple response given by Ranma.

"Okay then, boy, I hope you sort out your feelings with Akane and Ryoga. This is for both your sake and their sake." Genma requested. For the first time in a while, Genma actually sounded like a mature, responsible adult. He started walking off, waiting for Ranma to follow him to the living room.

"We'll see about that." That was the last thing Genma heard before they left the dojo, in complete and utter silence.

* * *

When Genma and Ranma had entered the living room, everyone looked up expectantly at Genma, to see whether or not he had succeeded. Genma just shook his head sadly. Everyone collectively groaned. Why did Ranma have to be so stubborn? Ranma pretended as if he didn't notice what just happened and started eating his dinner.

"So Ranma, how are you feeling now?" Kasumi asked, in her normal polite voice.

"I'm fine." He replied emotionlessly, which contradicted his words. He had many other ways of answering that question but he didn't want to be too harsh on Kasumi, she never did anything wrong to him.

"Don't lie to us Ranma. You're not very good at lying anyway. It's obvious that you're not fine." Nabiki sighed, using her normal cold, deductive voice. It was such an obvious lie; the tone of his voice alone gave it away!

"What's your point?" He continued to speak with his emotionless voice.

"Ranma, you don't have to go to this stupid extreme. Akane and Ryoga could just apologize to you and everything could be normal again." Nabiki suggested. Immediately everyone knew that it was the wrong thing to say as Ranma's gaze hardened.

"You're wrong Nabiki. Everything would be normal for only a short amount of time, maybe a couple of weeks. Then it would just start all over again. Forget it." He replied coldly. Nabiki was surprised at how stubborn he insisted on being. At the same time, though, she had to admit that he had a good point. Akane and Ryoga would probably forget that this ever happened after a couple of weeks.

"I would not!" Akane protested while glaring at Ranma. She finally decided to speak up. No matter how gloomy Ranma was acting, there was no way she would let him get away with chastising her.

"That's what you say now but after a couple of weeks you'll start doing it again." He still insisted that she would not stop blaming him for everything. After going through it for 1 year, he refused to believe that it would stop so easily.

"What sort of person do you think I am, Ranma?!" She yelled out, getting really annoyed with the way he was talking to her. He seemed to be implying that Akane was heartless and that she just loved to torture him.

"I don't even know anymore! One thing I do know is that every time when I'm in a stupid situation you always blame me, immediately, for everything! You never ask me for what actually happened. Even if you do, you never think that I'm telling the truth. So why should I believe that you're gonna start doing that all of sudden?!" He yelled back, finally losing his cool in the dojo. The family were in stunned silence. Akane had no response to that, she was shocked that he actually felt that way. Suddenly Ranma got up.

"I'm not very hungry right now. I'll go back to my room. Don't try to make me feel better, you won't." He said, back into his cold voice again. He then promptly left the living room.

"Well, it looks like he's had enough of the craziness his life is. Instead of trying to cheer him up, we should actually go along with the original plan. Leave him alone to think things over." Soun stated.

"But-" Akane tried to disagree.

"No arguments Akane. You'll just anger him even more if you try to talk with him. Just let him think things over." He stated again, this time a bit more forcefully.

No one questioned him further. After they had finished dinner, they all went to bed, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day. Well everyone but Ranko did. She was busy preparing to sneak out of her room to pay Ranma a visit. She realised that no one would try to sort out this mess, but her. It was mostly for Ranma's sake. Whether anyone else noticed it or not, he had a single tear drop from his face when he left the dojo. She couldn't let this go on.

_Sorry Ranma. I may be a stranger, but I can't allow you to stay like this any longer!_

* * *

Ranma fully expected someone to come in and try to cheer him up, specifically Akane. He wasn't that stupid, he knew that she would still feel that she had to make things right. What he didn't expect was that someone would try to break in through the window. He heard a tap, which was the sound of his window being hit by something. He lifted the window up.

"Who is it?" He asked, wanting to know who would try to break into his room before he thought about helping the person up. It was incredibly dark so he couldn't see who it was.

"It's Ranko, let me up." She requested.

He complied, he had nothing against Ranko. In fact, he felt sorry for her. She just came back into her body, only to be involved in their awkward situation. He helped her up through the window. As soon as she got in, he sat down on the floor, gesturing for her to do the same.

"So, mind explaining why you tried to sneak into my room?" He requested, his voice showing no emotion. He didn't feel like acting all cold and bitter anymore, which Ranko picked up on.

"Why are you doing this Ranma? You know that you want to make up with Akane and Ryoga. Don't try to deny it; I can see it in your eyes." She quickly added, wanting to prevent Ranma from lying. He just sighed in response.

"If I do that, Ranko, things will never change. Akane will keep blaming me for everything and Ryoga will keep siding with her because he's ridiculously loyal to Akane. I've dealt with it for 1 year already, why should I keep trying to be their friends if that's how they treat me?" He asked. He was close to crying, which Ranko could tell from experience. She used to do it all the time when her parents argued. She tried not to think of those memories and focused on answering Ranma's question.

"Well, uh, they're your friends aren't they? Don't you think they deserve a second chance? It's not like they hate you!" She replied, hoping that it was enough. Ranma just continued to look in front of him, staring into empty space. She took that as a sign to continue talking and sighed, trying desperately to think of the right words to say.

"Look, they even looked remorseful. Besides, what about all the good times you had with them? Don't they outweigh those bad moments which you're upset about?" She continued to argue, surprised at how mature she sounded. She guessed it was because she was already in this position before. Ranma blinked in surprise.

"I…I never really thought of that." He said quietly. She could see that he was in deep thought about what she just said. For a while they just sat there, in complete silence, before Ranma spoke up again.

"You're right. I've had some good times with Ryoga and Akane." He said, getting a distant look in his eyes as he recalled all the good memories he had with the two. Ranko heaved a sigh of relief. She felt that she was making some good progress here

"See? Now, do you really want to just throw that all away?" She asked. If everything went according to what she wanted to happen then he would say no and choose to rekindle his friendship with Akane and Ryoga.

"I guess not." That was all Ranma could say. He was still in deep thought over what was the right decision to make. Ranko sighed again, this time in dismay. Ranma was really stubborn, although that's why he didn't snap earlier, she guessed. Ryoga and Akane must have really done this a lot if he was this stubborn. Or he was just naturally very stubborn, which was more likely.

"Look Ranma, I think you should try being their friend again. All this is doing is hurting your feelings, along with Akane's and Ryoga's." She recommended, hoping that Ranma would finally agree with her suggestion to be friends again. It was taking its toll on him. He looked so conflicted over what the right decision was. She didn't know why, but it hurt her to see him in this much pain. He was so friendly this morning as well.

"I'm not trying to be rude but why are you helping me out? We don't even know each other that well." Ranma asked. He appreciated it, but he wanted to know why she felt like she had to help him out.

"I don't know, I guess I just feel bad for you. That's all I can say." Ranko answered. She wasn't completely sure why she felt compelled to help Ranma out but she hadn't regretted trying, which Ranma could see in her eyes. His eyes suddenly lit up.

"Alright then, I'll continue being Akane and Ryoga's friend. You're right, the good times do outweigh the bad times." He finally decided, making Ranko sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness you made the right decision. Well I'm off, I'm going back into my room" She said whilst getting up, ready to leave his room. However, before she could leave, she felt Ranma grabbing her arm. She turned around to see him stand up as well.

"Stay here."

"Wh-What?!"

"Stay here for tonight. It's gonna be tough to get back into your room without waking anyone else up, so you might as well stay here for the night. My bed has space for the two of us" He suggested, giving her a meaningful glance. She only blushed in response.

"I…Uh…" She could barely muster out; she was very surprised as to what was happening right now. Her heart was beating rapidly at the situation she was in.

"Ranko, let me repay you for helping me make an important decision in my life. Stay here so that no one gets angry at you for waking them up. It's the least I could do." He insisted, still giving the same look to Ranko.

"What if they find me in your room tomorrow morning, though?" She asked, hoping to avoid staying in Ranma's room.

"We'll deal with them later, right now you look like you're really tired." He replied, trying to convince Ranko to stay.

"Well, can you blame me? This has been one heck of a day!" She said loudly.

"Yep, it has." He agreed, it was one day which he would hope to forget later on.

"So, you gonna let go of my arm anytime soon? If I'm staying here I need to lie down in your bed don't I?"

This time it was Ranma who ended up blushing. He let go of her arm almost instantly after she said that. The both of them then walked over to his bed and decided to lie down on opposite sides of his bed.

Ranko was thinking to herself. _Why did my heart start beating so fast from Ranma just grabbing my arm? What was that glance about as well? _She was blushing, just thinking about what just happened.

Ranma on the other side was thinking of the same situation. _Why did I grab her arm like that? Why did I want her to stay in my room with me? Was it really only to repay her for helping me? _He pondered for a while. He heard Ranko breathing a lot more quietly next to him, which meant that she fell asleep. He smiled. She was a lot better than Akane, who beat up anyone who slept in the same bed with her, in her sleep nonetheless. Speaking of Akane, he wondered why she didn't try to break in into his room, like Ranko did. _Ah, who cares?_ He thought before going to sleep.

What he didn't know was that Akane did go to try and break into his room. She had stopped though when she saw Ranko enter Ranma's room through the way she was gonna go through. She listened in into their conversation. She was delighted with what Ranko did, at the start, she did seem like she wanted to be her friend and she didn't seem like she would chase after Ranma as well. However when she saw Ranma grab her arm and Ranko blush from that, Akane saw red. _Why that no good….she is after Ranma! Well she's gonna have to get through me first if she thinks she's gonna have him! _She thought angrily to herself, only getting angrier with her when she started sleeping in the same bed as Ranma. _Oh yeah, she'll have to fight if she wants to take Ranma from me, and I'm ready for it! Bring it on Ranko!_


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:**Hey Guys. Thanks for all the reviews you gave for the last two chapters. I'm glad that you enjoyed both of the chapters. Anyways, moving on, here's chapter 6. This one is quite a long chapter, so enjoy!

**Chapter 6**

Genma was very surprised when he woke up. His initial plan that morning was to wake up before Ranma and to try to make him apologize by force, again. What he didn't expect was Ranma and Ranko standing outside his door. They looked they had been waiting outside for a couple of minutes now.

"Ranma, Ranko, what are you doing here?" He asked. He was genuinely confused at the situation. So many questions had flooded his mind Wasn't Ranma trying to ignore everyone in the household? If he was, why was he with Ranko right now?

"Hey pop, I came to ask if you wanted to start our morning warm-up right now?" He asked casually. Genma quickly detected that Ranma was calmer than he was last night, which was good news. Although this gave Genma another question, why is he calmer now than before? He looked at Ranko; did she have something to do with it? Ranma noticed his father's shifting eyes and decided to answer the question that was obviously on his mind.

"If you're wondering, yes I'm feeling better now." He answered. He heard a sigh of relief coming from his dad.

"I'm gonna assume that Ranko helped you out there, am I right?" Genma asked, simply out of curiosity. He wondered if he was right about those two the day before. If he was, he wondered whether those two knew it themselves. Without realising it he was grinning at the two.

"Yeah she did. No pop, it's not what it looks like before you ask." Ranma sighed as Genma looked far too happy with what he was thinking about. That only meant trouble and chaos for Ranma.

"I think it is. I think you and Ranko are falling for each oth-" He was stopped right there by Ranma punching him in the face. Nevertheless, it had the desired effect. Ranma and Ranko were both blushing.

"That's enough of that. Now, are we gonna do the warm-up or not?" Ranma asked, getting fed up at this point of his father constantly teasing him about being with Ranko. Of course his father wouldn't let up that easily, if anything he had a bigger grin than he did before.

"All right then, let's begin the warm-up, although I won't be training too much this morning. I'll let you and Ranko train together for this morning." He smirked at Ranma, his underlying tone making it obvious what he was implying. The two ended up blushing even more before glaring at him. Genma gulped.

"Right, let's begin then. See you at the dojo!" He exclaimed as he ran off with tremendous speed to the dojo. They both just sighed after watching him disappear across the hall.

"You'd think he'd learn after yesterday morning, wouldn't you?" Ranko asked, shaking her head at Genma. He really didn't act like an adult most of the time. From what she heard from Kasumi about him, he didn't seem to act like a good father, at least most of the time anyway.

"Yep, Pop never changes." Ranma agreed. His father was the most interesting person in the house. He was just completely unpredictable. Sometimes he acted responsibly, like an adult, the other times made Ranma question his father's sanity and age.

"Well, should we follow him?" Ranko asked.

"Yeah we should. After all we need to have a rematch now don't we?" He answered, smirking devilishly. Ranko returned the smirk. They had their match stopped by Genma before because of everyone wanting to have breakfast. They had more time now, though, so they would finally see who the stronger fighter was.

"Bring it on, Ranma Saotome. Get ready for a quick defeat." Ranko said coolly, still smirking at him. She was prepared to prove that she was the better fighter amongst the two. No matter how good Ranma may be, she was determined to show that she was better than him.

"We'll see about that." Ranma replied in a cool voice as well. He had been itching to fight with Ranko again. While he will admit that Ranko was a good fighter, he would prove that he was the better martial artist. They both then turned around to walk to the dojo, to what would be an exciting match.

* * *

They both stood in opposite corners, staring each other down. Genma was nervous as well, he knew that Ranma and Ranko were evenly matched. From the day he was born, Ranma would not accept being equal to anyone. He would always try to prove himself better, compared to whoever was equal to him. If Ranko had the same idea as Ranma had, then this would be one crazy fight.

"Are you two ready?" Genma asked, wanting to make sure they were both ready before they tried to fight.

"Yep!" They both answered simultaneously, which Genma noted. They were really alike sometimes, although sometimes they were also completely different people. He went back to the match at hand, this was no time to be thinking about that.

"Alright then! 3! 2! 1! Go!" He yelled.

The two charged towards each other with incredible speed as soon as Genma said go. They both reached the centre of the dojo with blinding speeds, both attempting a kick on their opponent. Their knees met in mid-air as they both grunted, trying to overpower the other.

After a while they finally backed off from the centre to recover their breath. With their guards up, both fighters circled each other, and then proceeded to charge at each other again. Ranma lifted his arm to block a blow then tried to break Ranko's defence with his own punch. During this short lapse, Ranko managed to land a powerful kick on Ranma's chest. The sound of air leaving his lungs could be heard from the force of the kick. He grunted, but quickly recovered and managed to land a punch in Ranko's stomach. Ranko merely grunted in response.

Genma could only continue to stare. Both Ranma and Ranko knew what they were doing, but the fighting seemed to require only a little bit of strategy, as both of them were matching each other's move. The main skill seemed to be the strength of the blows and the endurance of the two.

Ranma jumped, dodging a blow to his legs, and then smashed Ranko across the stomach with his leg. Ranko retreated for a brief moment, and then proceeded to attack again.

After many long minutes of fighting, Genma recognized more of the strategy involved in the fighting. Both of them were obviously careful not to injure the other too badly. This was really exciting for him to watch, two very young martial artists, who are already at the top of their game, fight to see which one of them are superior over the other. He'd definitely enjoy whatever the outcome of the match would be, especially if Ranma lost. If Ranma does lose, he would never let him live it down, losing to a girl that is.

Ranko swung toward Ranma, who turned to block the blow with his arms. Ranko and Ranma continued to keep their cool, despite how obvious it was that they were almost perfectly matched. They just couldn't seem to overpower or move faster than the other. Ranma had enough. It he couldn't overpower or move faster than Ranko then he would have to outsmart her.

He kept on avoiding Ranko's relentless attacks for a while, attempting to pick up a weak point in her stance. After narrowly avoiding a kick from Ranko, he noticed that she was struggling to move her stomach as quickly as the rest of her body was moving. He realised that he had struck Ranko's stomach, very powerfully, twice. It would be slightly damaged, therefor more difficult to move. He now knew what to do.

As Ranko was about to throw another punch, Ranma removed the arms which were protecting his chest to receive the blow. He grunted loudly, but then quickly proceeded to use the chestnut fist on Ranko's stomach. Each of his punches were weaker compared to his normal punches, but if he kept attacking the same spot, then he would win the fight. It was working! Ranko was struggling to avoid his punches, her eyes were shut. He was gonna win the fight now!

Or so he thought. Suddenly Ranko's eyes snapped open! She, at blinding speeds, dodged his next punch and kicked him in the stomach with more power than he ever felt before coming from his opponent. Before he knew it he had fallen down, with Ranko standing on top of him. He couldn't get up, which meant he had lost. Ranko was breathing heavily, trying to recover her breath from the onslaught of attacks dealt by Ranma. Genma gasped, but then quickly returned to his announcer voice.

"The match is over! Ranko wins!" Genma yelled, and then yelped in surprise as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. Soun Tendo and his three daughters were just standing there in stunned silence. There were two things that Genma noticed. The first thing was that a lot of surprising things were happening with their lives right now. The second thing was that he had been so immersed in Ranma and Ranko's fight that he didn't even notice the Tendo family had walked in.

Ranko walked off Ranma's chest and offered a hand to help him up. Ranma looked at it for a while before accepting her help. He got up and then smirked at her.

"Well, it looks like you're much stronger than I am. You completely beat me there." He said, fully accepting that he was completely beaten by Ranko.

"That's not true. You were actually really close to winning. You would have won, if you hadn't lost you guard at that moment. You gave me an opportunity to strike, for which I had just enough energy to do. That is what cost you the match. That's all." She replied offhandedly. If she hadn't taken advantage in that one moment, then he would have won. She realised that although she technically won, Ranma had completely outsmarted her and was an inch away from victory from one simple, but careless mistake. She was amazed that he was this strong. _At least I have a new training partner now. _She thought to herself happily, as she awaited his response to her statement.

"Either way, I shouldn't have made that mistake. You won that fight, completely fair. But don't think that we're done yet! We got to have another match like that!" Ranma proclaimed, seemingly over his loss against Ranko.

Akane noticed something, normally Ranma would either just sit there in silence, trying to figure out how to surpass his opponent, or he would mope around the dojo for a couple of days. This time he was doing neither. He was acknowledging his opponent instead! Ranma never did that! _It must be because his opponent was Ranko!_ She deduced, glaring heatedly at Ranko. Speaking of Ranko, she just smirked back in response to Ranma's declaration. If he wanted to play like that, fine! She'll just play along.

"Okay, if you want me to school you again, then sure! I'll fight you anytime you want. Prepare to lose again, though, Ranma." She stated smugly, looking at Ranma with a strange glint in her eyes.

"We'll see about that, Ranko." He rebutted. He had a fiery gaze in his eyes as he was staring her down again. He wasn't annoyed at her acting all smug, in fact, he welcomed the challenge. He would train hard to surpass her in fighting. Next time, instead of failing at the very last moment of impact, he would win against Ranko. Or so he hoped.

The Tendo family watched as the two fighters literally stared each other down, ready to go at it again. They looked like they were ready to fight again and again. They were completely shocked at how friendly Ranma was acting now. Eventually they all just sighed and decided to walk back into the living room, ignoring what just happened. Only Kasumi stayed behind for a minute, smiling to herself.

"It's good to see you in a great mood again, Ranma." Kasumi stated as she left the room. She mentally thanked God for allowing Ranma to calm down from his anger.

She noticed how friendly he had been acting with Ranko. She suspected that they were beginning to fall for each other. She felt sorry for Akane, as she also felt for Ranma, but she thought that Ranma and Ranko actually got along a lot better than Ranma and Akane did. She still considered him as a younger brother, but she did think that Ranko was better for Ranma than Akane was. She also noticed that Akane was aware of it, from the glare she sent Ranko. For everyone's sake, she hoped that her sister would find someone else to love. Otherwise, last night would look like a happy memory, to what could happen next.

* * *

Breakfast was certainly interesting. Akane kept glaring at Ranko for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Ranko had noticed by now and had begun to wonder what Akane was mad at her for. _What did I do to her? _She wondered as Akane continued to glare at her. Ranma was completely oblivious to this, as usual. He was more focused in surpassing Ranko in strength. _She's good, really good. But I'll beat her! _ He thought to himself proudly. He decided that he would train until he reached a new level of power, one where it would be incredibly difficult to surpass him in power.

Genma did not hold back on his promise to make fun of Ranma if he lost. He constantly pestered Ranma throughout breakfast.

"The big bad Ranma got defeated by a girl! You've really been slacking off, haven't you boy?" He teased, enjoying how Ranma's facial twisted into embarrassment. No, he's not a bad parent; he just enjoyed making fun of his only son. That's all. Unfortunately for him, Ranma quickly went from embarrassment to anger.

"This is coming from the guy who got beat almost instantly by her! At least our fight was much closer!" Ranma argued. He was obviously annoyed at his useless father for continually embarrassing him every moment he got. He managed to get his father embarrassed. Ranko decided it was probably best if she stayed out of their fight. Soun Tendo looked at Genma, almost as if he felt sorry for how pathetic he was.

"That's right, Saotome. You were beaten far too quickly by her. Have you been slacking off?" He questioned, making Genma further hide in embarrassment.

"That's different! I was, uh, holding back!" He proclaimed, only to receive a scoff from Ranma. Ranma quickly dismissed his father's statement as being a stupid lie, it happened all the time. However, he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to make fun of his father, not when he had just done the same to him.

"You were holding back were you?" Ranma asked almost sinisterly. He wanted to see his father try to get himself out of this one.

"I, uh, yes! I was holding back because I wasn't sure if my full power would hurt Ranko then. I merely assumed that she wasn't as strong as Ranma was at the time." He replied, noticing how Ranma just gave a look of disbelief at his obvious lie that he just created. He also noticed how Ranko glared at him, as if he thought she was weak!

"Okay then. Without holding back, how about you fight against her again?" Ranma mocked his father further, waiting to see when he would crumble. He wouldn't have to wait any longer. Genma had almost immediately changed into a Panda after hearing Ranma's suggestion. He began lying down on the floor, cradling a ball in his panda like hands

"Saotome! Have you no shame?!" Soun asked in disbelief. Why was his friend so pathetic? Genma just looked at him, pretending to not know what he was talking about. Soun just sighed in response. Ranko's eyes were wide open; she couldn't believe what she just saw. Ranma's father had just turned into a panda. She turned to Ranma, with questions in her eyes. Ranma noticed the look of confusion in her eyes and decided to explain.

"My dad can change into a panda when he gets hit with cold water. He turns back into his normal self if you splash him with hot water though. The same thing happens with me when I get splashed with cold water. If I do, I would turn into a girl, specifically you." Ranma explained to her. He also demonstrated it by splashing hot water over Genma in panda form. Sure enough, Genma changed back into his normal self. Ranko just stood there, dumbstruck at what she just witnessed.

So this is what happened when Ranma was splashed with cold water. He would turn into her! Because of her wanting to drown herself in the spring, she had ruined someone else's life. She cracked right then. She didn't want to believe it but after seeing what it was like, she let it all out. She started crying right there and then, planting her face into Ranma's chest. He had a bewildered look of surprise, as did everyone else.

She lifted her head up, full of tear stricken eyes, to meet him in the eye. His eyes showed concern, worry and some other emotion that Ranko couldn't tell. However she felt depressed at the fact that she had ruined someone else's life. Even if it wasn't intentional, the point still stood.

"I'm sorry Ranma! Because of me drowning in the spring in Jusenkyo, your life had been ruined! I'm so sorry!" She cried out whilst burying her head back into Ranma's chest. She was really horrified at the thought of ruining another person's life, just to avoid the pain of losing her parents.

Ranma wasn't sure what to do in this situation. He wasn't used to seeing Ranko cry. And it was because she felt bad for him. He wasn't used to dealing with girls crying, so he had absolutely no idea with what to do. He knew that he had to comfort her; she did after all comfort him last night. He decided, eventually, that he had to say something.

"Ranko, it wasn't that bad. So what if I turn into a girl it's not that bad!" Ranma insisted, saying anything that he thought would comfort Ranko. Unfortunately his tone of voice wasn't very convincing when he said it. There was no comment made about what he just said but Ranma knew that everyone didn't really believe him. He had complained about the curse for so long and tried to remove it so many times. He wouldn't believe himself either after going through all that. Even Ranko, who didn't even know him that well, looked sceptically at him.

"Don't say that just to comfort me! Kasumi told me that you've hated the curse from the very beginning! I know I've screwed your life over, just say it!" She yelled out in anguish, still berating herself for doing that to her new friend.

Ranma thought for a moment. He knew that he had tried to remove the curse at all costs. But did he really hate it? Before a couple of days ago he would have said yes. But after the nightmare he had those couple of nights ago, he wasn't so sure. He thought about this for a while and then begun to smirk.

"Who said I was lying?" He replied simply. Everyone just looked at him, as if all sanity had left his brain. They wondered if it was true. His father was Genma Saotome after all. They wouldn't blame him if he had lost his sanity after all this time.

"What do you mean?" Ranko asked, still very depressed over the issue. She wondered why he was smirking all of a sudden; as if he knew what he was gonna do now.

"You're right; I did hate my curse, until a couple of days ago that is." He answered, still smirking at her. She blinked for a moment. Was he telling the truth, or was he just lying to try and comfort her.

"You're just saying that, after hating it for 2 years, there's no way you'd suddenly decide that actually you don't hate your curse anymore!" She proclaimed, not ready to believe what Ranma had just said. He lost his smirk, as if he had lost all hope then. He spoke up.

"Well, if this is what it takes to show you that I'm not lying then fine. I had a dream where I had finally lost the curse!" He stated loudly, revealing the very thing he would otherwise never tell a soul. _I hope this works; otherwise I've just lost my pride for nothing! _He thought frantically, hoping that Ranko would finally believe him. Everyone just leaned in forward, eager to hear what this dream of his had to do with not hating his curse anymore. Taking a deep breath, Ranma decided to start talking about his nightmare.

"In my dream, I had lost the curse and I was happy for the first couple of days. Eventually, though, I began to actually miss the curse. It sounds crazy but it's the truth. I then saw a spirit in the sky just looking at me. It was my female form, in other words you Ranko. You looked at me as if I had ruined the last chance you had to live. I felt sorry for you. You were dead all this time; you lived through me whenever I turned into a girl. Even if you weren't in control, you still lived. You faded away after staring at me for a while. I realised, then, that I had made the wrong move by losing my curse. Because of simply not wanting to be a girl any longer I had gotten rid of your spirit. That's when I woke up from that terrible dream." Ranma concluded after reminiscing about his dream.

He was surprised that he revealed that much. He must have been talking about his dream/nightmare for quite a while. Everyone was just gobsmacked at what they just heard, particularly Akane. Ranma was willingly admitting that he was scared of his dream, just to make Ranko happy. She was annoyed at her for again attracting Ranma's attention but she didn't want to but in. She desperately wanted to hear more about what happened. Ranma decided to continue trying to make Ranko happy again.

"After that dream, I thought about whether I truly hated my curse or not. Yes it was bad for my pride, but ignoring from that, it wasn't actually that bad. At least it wasn't as bad as Shampoo's curse or Mousse's. Now, I didn't stop hating the curse immediately, but I don't actually hate it anymore now. I guess that's what I'm trying to say." Ranma finally finished talking. He was incredibly surprised that he sounded so mature about it. He supposed he just learnt from Ranko. He stood there, awaiting Ranko's reaction. She just stood there not moving. She didn't even change her facial expression, which was what annoyed Ranma.

"Oh come on! After a long speech like that the least you could do was smile!" He whined loudly, annoyed that she didn't even react to his massive speech. Ranko blinked, before laughing at what he just said. Ranma just cursed silently.

"I do all that and all she does is laugh at me. Typical." He muttered, frowning at everyone now. Everyone just started laughing at him after he said that. Ranko was smirking at him devilishly. He just smiled.

"Well, at least you're back to normal now." He stated, happy that at least his long speech actually worked. Even if it had just destroyed all the remaining pride he had left, Ranko was in a better mood than she was in before. Normally he would go crawl in a hole after losing his pride but he really felt

Ranko just continued to smirk at him. He didn't know why but he was getting a feeling that something big was about to happen. Something did happen. Ranko walked up to him a hugged him.

"Thanks for that Ranma. I needed that." She whispered quietly. Ranma was surprised but then he started hugging back.

"No problem, after all, I needed to pay you back for helping me last night." He replied, smirking now. He couldn't have predicted what would happen next.

Ranko had leaned in forward and kissed him on the cheek. Everyone gasped again. Ranma began blushing far too enthusiastically as he would have liked. Akane starting glaring holes at Ranko. _That sneaky little… _Her thought was cut off by Ranko talking again.

"So then, should we leave the dojo?" She asked, blushing madly herself from kissing Ranma. She couldn't believe what just happened herself, although she really didn't regret it. Soun Tendo took a while to respond. He was busy trying to avoid acknowledging what just happened in front of him.

"Yes, we should leave before anything else happens here." He declared. He, Genma, Kasumi and Nabiki had left the dojo. This left Akane, Ranko and Ranma in the dojo. Ranma was still blushing over the kiss on his cheek. Akane was still glaring at Ranko for kissing Ranma. Ranko was just staring at Ranma, with a strange expression on her face. She didn't know what she was feeling right now, though. For everyone's sanity, she hoped that nothing else would happen today. Otherwise everyone may end up dying of shock through all the surprises that have happened during these past couple of days.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After that whole drama in the dojo had been cleared up, Kasumi suggested that Akane, Ranma and Ranko should go shopping. Well, she initially told Ranko and Akane to go but they ended up dragging Ranma along, much to his dismay. So, the trio headed their way to the biggest clothing store in the city. There was a huge sale going on for women's clothes. Akane and Ranko were excited, as they had the opportunity to buy some good clothes for a cheap price. Ranma just groaned after seeing that there was a sale in the women's clothing store section. He knew that he would end up carrying the endless amount of clothes that Akane and Ranko will, no doubt, buy. He was correct.

He sighed, as Akane and Ranko bought another set of clothes. That was the twenty third set they had bought, in one hour as well. He didn't care what they would claim after this was over; they were definitely soppy girls when it came to shopping. Of course they would deny it completely, there was no doubt about that. They were both so damn prideful, Akane especially. As he began carrying the twenty third set, along with the other twenty two, he thought about what his feelings for Akane were now. Before the night with his nightmare, he had been positive that he was in love with Akane. But, as he thought about all those times where Akane didn't trust him, they were more common than when she actually helped him. He didn't know what to do then. Should he try to pursue a relationship with Akane or should he not? Would it even work?

His mind then shifted to thoughts of Ranko. He had met her only a few days ago and she had been really nice to him, despite him having her spirit in his body. He really felt sorry for her, she lost her parents and she couldn't even escape from that harsh reality like she wanted to. Instead, he trapped her in his body. Involuntarily or not, she was still trapped because of him. He was surprised when she started crying because she thought she ruined his life. _She really is an amazing person at heart. _He thought whilst thinking of other things about her. She was mentally tough; she would stand up for her dignity if she needed to. She was also physically strong, maybe even stronger than he was! She was beautiful; he had seen many times when he turned into her. There were so many things that were so good about her.

Despite those good things, there were a few bad things about her. She would be quick to judge him if he did anything inappropriately, similar to Akane. Although unlike Akane, she was willing to listen to him. She was willing to hear the truth. She even believed him, which was more than what anyone else did! _Damn, I can't find anything bad about her! _He thought, slightly confused as to how she had no flaw. As he continued thinking about Ranko, his mind suddenly came to a halt.

_What am I doing? Wasn't I in love with Akane? _He thought frantically, trying to collect his thoughts together. But no matter what he tried, his head constantly was filled with thoughts of Ranko. She was just too perfect! He tried to think of any flaw of Ranko. He came up with one.

_She's…so sad. _He thought, only noticing it for the first time. Despite how she acted in front of him and everyone else, she was sad. He noticed it when she went to comfort him. She seemed…as if something was paining her. She looked like she felt that she wasn't very important. That was the difference between her and Akane, he realised. Yes, Akane did have to deal with him and his fiancés, but she still had Ryoga, who would gladly have her as his wife. She also had a lot of support from her family and friends. Ranko had nobody though, she had no family. She thought she wasn't special, which is what he could tell from her eyes when she comforted him. He was feeling so bad for her, along with some other feeling he didn't know.

He quickly realised that he actually knew what that feeling was. It was what he felt for Akane before a couple of days ago. _Wait a second, does that mean I've fallen in love with Ranko?! _He thought uncontrollably to himself. He was sweating now. Akane and Ranko both gave him a strange look but then shrugged it off immediately. They just assumed that Ranma was sweating from carrying all the bags they made him carry. Of course, they weren't gonna stop him from doing so, though. Ranma just continued to have a panicked expression on his face.

_I…I'm in love with Ranko?! But how?! _He thought to himself, so very confused by his feelings. He then thought back to what his father had said a couple of days ago.

"_Why, I'm implying that you two are in love of course!" _That was what he said a couple of days ago. At the time, both he and Ranko just scoffed at the idea, thinking that Genma was just messing with them. But now, Ranma wasn't so sure.

_Is my dad right? Was he correct about us two being in love?_ He really wasn't sure what to think about now. He had just mentally proclaimed to himself that he was falling in love with Ranko.

_Right, let's see if he's correct or not. _He thought, whilst placing the bags on the , then, decided to turn Ranko around, staring at her in the eye. He was checking what his reaction would be to seeing her face. Ranko just looked at him with a confused face. Ranma was feeling his mind give out just by looking at her. His mind was racing with so many thoughts; his heart was also beating much faster than normal. He even had a blush on his face. Ranko was beginning to look worried.

"Is something wrong, Ranma?" She asked. He could hear the concern radiate of her voice. All it did was make him blush more and quicken his heartbeat. He coughed out loud, trying to regain his composure.

"I'm fine, sorry about that." He stated, although it was clear that he wasn't fine just from the tone of his voice. He hoped that Ranko would just ignore it and move on. She shrugged and then motioned at him, for him to continue following her and Akane. He sighed out loud, picking up the bags he had dropped. He thought about what he just felt.

_So it's true then! I've fallen in love with Ranko! _He said to himself mentally, trying to acknowledge this fact he had just recently learnt. It explained why he decided to lose his pride just to comfort her. It also explained why he blushed around her, whenever anyone stated that they were in a relationship.

_But how could it have happened so quickly? We've only known each other for a couple of days! _He pondered to himself, truly confused at how quickly this was happening. Sure, he admitted that she was beautiful, but he didn't know that he felt this strong for her.

_But does she feel the same way about me? Would a relationship even work? _He asked himself the very questions he asked when he thought he was in love with Akane. He then remembered that he and she would join again after a month. He, very quickly, turned depressed at that moment.

_It would never work. She and I will be one person again soon. I might as well forget about it and move on. _He thought to himself. Also, the Tendos would kick him out if they ever found out that he had feelings for someone other than Akane. He was feeling even more depressed than he did last night. Why did he have to fall in love with someone who he could never be with? Was life that cruel that it was handing him fiancés, who he had no interest in, but when he did fall in love with someone else, he couldn't have her. Why was he so unlucky? He looked at Ranko and Akane. They looked like they were having a good time. He decided that he would not pursue his feelings any further. Whether he would regret it or not, he had no idea. But the relationship just couldn't happen, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Ranma was completely silent during the entire trip to the mall. He was even silent whilst they were walking back. Akane suspected that something was up. Normally Ranma would have complained about the sheer amount of bags that he had to carry by now. However, he acted as if he didn't notice the number of bags that he was carrying. He appeared to be in deep thought, she noted. He was calmly walking behind them, seemingly ignoring everything else around him. She turned to Ranko; she needed to hear what she thought of this little matter.

"Ranko, have you noticed that Ranma has been completely silent this entire time?" She asked, hoping that Ranko did indeed notice what she noticed. She nodded in response.

"Yeah, he's been acting really strange ever since we went to the shopping centre." She stated. She wasn't stupid, she could see that Ranma was thinking about something but what was it? What could he be thinking about that made him silent to everything around him?

"What do you think it is?" Akane asked.

"I don't know, is he just annoyed at carrying our shopping bags?" She half asked, half stated.

"No, it can't be that! Ranma and I have been to the store before and he hasn't acted like this before!" Akane proclaimed, almost completely convinced that it wasn't the shopping trip that got him silent.

"Then what could it be?" Ranko argued. She didn't know that much about Ranma so she asked someone who did.

Akane wasn't sure, she couldn't think of anything that would have got him so preoccupied. She then thought back to when Ranma actually talked during the shopping mall spree. He had turned Ranko around and started at her in the eye. He was blushing as well. _Could it be that he's actually falling for Ranko? _She asked herself, not wanting to believe it. She was starting to lose her temper now. There was no time to question it; she needed to prove whether or not it was true. She stopped walking and grabbed Ranko's arm. Ranko turned around, giving her a confused expression.

"Akane, what's wrong?" She asked, wondering why Akane had grabbed her arm like that. Akane didn't reply. She was waiting for Ranma to catch up. When he did, he looked at them, slightly confused.

"Why'd you stop?" He asked, looking for an answer in their faces. He didn't get one. Akane ignored him; she pulled Ranko in front of her and pushed her towards him. She collided with him dead on, which meant that they both ended up falling, with Ranko on top and Ranma on the bottom. They just stared at each other's eyes. Ranko was blushing slightly, wondering what Akane was up to. Ranma was blushing far more madly, his heart beating at the rate of knots.

_Damn, why did Akane have to do this? This is just making things more awkward! _He thought, annoyed at having to fight his feelings for Ranko, whilst she was on top of him as well! He desperately tried to stop blushing; he even tried to avert his eyes from Ranko's. It was futile, though, he just couldn't hide his feelings. Ranko, all this time, just looked completely confused. _Why did Akane push me onto Ranma? _She wondered, whilst looking straight at him. He seemed to be blushing at her, although she didn't know why.

Akane just stood there, glaring heated at both of them. _So it's true then! Ranma is in love with Ranko! _She thought, getting really annoyed at how quickly he fell for her. After a couple of minutes had passed, Akane decided to pull Ranko off from Ranma. After she did, she glared at Ranma.

"Tonight, Ranma, we need to talk. Alone." She said venomously, still glaring at him whilst walking off back to the dojo. Ranma could only gulp in response.

_What did I do now? _He wondered. All he could do was hope that whatever he did wasn't too extreme, otherwise he was a dead man. Ranko looked at him, as if he knew something that she didn't, but then shrugged it off.

"So, you wanna follow her back?" She asked. He simply nodded in response. They then walked off in silence back to the dojo. Ranko was thinking about what had happened during this day, and how weird every day with Ranma Saotome was. Ranma was busy wondering why else Akane wanted to talk with him. _She sounded really serious._ He thought. Akane sounded like she meant business when she asked to talk with him alone. This only meant that it would probably be a conversation that he would regret having.

* * *

After dinner had finished, Akane had dragged Ranma to her room, so that they would not be disturbed. She quickly checked outside, for anyone eavesdropping on their conversation. When she was satisfied, she turned and looked at him with an expression that Ranma couldn't figure out.

"So, Akane, why did you bring me here?" He asked, wanting to get this over and done with.

"You're in love with Ranko, aren't you?" Akane asked bluntly, looking to see his reaction to her question. As expected, he blushed and averted his eyes from her.

"No-No I don't!" He exclaimed, hoping against hope that she would believe him. It was very unlikely that she would believe him, though. After all, he was still blushing madly.

"You're blushing!" She pointed out, not wanting Ranma to lie to her any further.

"Uh…No I'm not! You're crazy!" He continued to exclaim. Akane was getting fed up at his denial by this point, despite it only lasting a minute.

"Stop it Ranma! Stop trying to hide it! You know that you're in love with her!" She shouted, showing her anger at this situation.

"So what's your point?!" He yelled back. He wanted to know why she was so insistent at him declaring it.

"Why have you fallen in love with her? Why this quickly?! What happened to running the dojo with me?" She yelled. She was so annoyed that it had taken so long to get Ranma to love her, even if he would say it only to himself. On the other hand, Ranko only took a few days to do so, much to her chagrin. Worst part was that she didn't even realise that she did so!

"What am I supposed to say then? That I don't love her? If I did I would be lying and you know it Akane. Besides, it's not like anything will happen." He began yelling in his angry response, before getting into a depressed tone of voice. Akane was shocked at this sudden change in the conversation. All she could do was ask why.

"Why do you say that?" She asked. She couldn't help herself; even if she was annoyed at all of this, she was also curious as to why there couldn't be a relationship between Ranma and Ranko.

"Don't you remember you stupid tomboy? We'll be joining together in a month. In other words, it'll be back to normal. I'll change into her every time I get splashed with cold water! How am I meant to have a relationship, without it being broken in a month?" He asked in his depressed voice, expressing everything that he had been thinking about during the trip to the store. Akane was shocked at first but then realised what Ranma was saying. He had a point, as they would be in the same body after a month; there was no way for them to have a relationship. Normally she would get annoyed at the tomboy comment, but this was an important conversation. She couldn't let that distract her.

"Ugh, it's so depressing. Now I know how Ryoga feels all the time." He continued in his depressed voice. Akane didn't know how to respond, she didn't want Ranma to bet this depressed while she was trying to prevent him from loving Ranko. They just sat there, in silence for a while before Ranma spoke up again.

"Right, I'll be leaving now." He announced in his depressed voice. He began walking towards the door when he heard Akane speak.

"Why her? Why out of everyone else do you want her?" Akane had to ask, her voice crumbling near the end. Ranma was never interested in the attempts that Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo made. They were lucky if they even got a response from him sometimes, yet Ranko seemed to do it easily. Ranma sighed.

"Look Akane, whether you like it or not, you gotta realise that I'm not in love with you anymore. I was before but things have changed. I'm in love with Ranko now, so deal with it." He answered in his now cold voice. Without a word after that, he left Akane's room, leaving Akane to her thoughts.

* * *

Normally Ranko wasn't the type of person who would eavesdrop. But, after hearing Akane's serious voice during the walk back to the dojo, she felt that she had to listen to what they were talking about. She was dumbstruck at what she heard. Ranma was in love with her? She was blushing madly after hearing that. She was sliding down Akane's door, thinking about what she just heard.

She heard Akane yelling at him for falling in love with her, and then she heard Ranma take on a more depressed tone. She never wanted to hear that depressed tone again. He sounded like he was completely hopeless, like he had lost the will to live. When she heard Ranma's reason for why they couldn't be together, she realised that he was correct. She felt like she was becoming depressed herself after hearing that. Why couldn't they just stay separated? When she heard nothing come from Akane's room, she realised that both Akane and Ranma were probably thinking about what she said.

"Right, I'll be leaving now." She heard Ranma say. She panicked; she couldn't get up in time to hide from him. She was caught. Or so she thought, until Akane spoke again.

"Why her? Why out of everyone else do you want her? What about me?" She heard Akane ask in a strained voice. She was shocked to hear Akane say that, as if she was… jealous of Ranko. _If she was, that would explain the death glares I've been getting._ She concluded, whilst climbing onto the ceiling. This way, she could hide from them and continue to listen to their conversation.

"Look Akane, whether you like it or not, you gotta realise that I'm not in love with you anymore. I was before but things have changed. I'm in love with Ranko now, so deal with it." Ranko both flinched and blushed when she heard his cold voice say those words. _What's going on?! _She wondered to herself before remaining perfectly still on the ceiling as Ranma came out.

She saw him leave the room. He was walking slowly back to his room, muttering to himself. She could hear a few things he was saying. They were all about her. She blushed, thinking about what she witnessed in front of her.

_So Ranma Saotome is in love with me?_ She wondered to herself, still trying to get used to that idea. She was surprised that he had fallen for her in only a couple of days. Did she love him back though? That was the real question that she asked to herself. _Am I in love with Ranma Saotome?_ Right now, she had no idea.

She wondered what she would do, if she was in love with him. From what she saw of her parent's love, she never wanted to fall in love herself, if that was what she would be like. Either way, like he said, there was nothing they could do. They would eventually join back into his body again. _Hmm, I guess I could try to find something that would keep us separated, for both his sake and my sake! _She initially decided that she would have to go find Happosai soon. That was what she thought before she remembered Ranma's depressed voice.

_Oh wait; I should probably do something about his depression again. I can't keep him like that. _She would probably have to say that she loved him back, in order to cheer him up. She wasn't sure how she felt about him though, which made things a bit tougher.

_Or…I could wait and get to know him a bit better throughout the next few days. We've got a month before any of this happens so why rush it?_ She finalised, whilst having a smirk on her face. Her new plan was to wait for a while and to hang out with Ranma, to get to know him better. That was probably better for her to do. She had no way of finding Happosai, so why not use this time to spend some time with the guy who was in love with her. This would help her sort out her feelings for him. It was a much better plan than before. She then walked off to her bedroom and fell into her bed. If she was lucky, tomorrow would hopefully be a good day, without any drama. However, she was hanging out with Ranma Saotome, the guy who always brought a lot of excitement to the Tendo dojo every single day, whether he liked it or not.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:**Hey Guys! Once again I'm glad to see that a lot of you are enjoying this story! I never expected this story to turn out to be this well received, but I'm not complaining. Anyway, here's Chapter 8. Enjoy!

**Chapter 8**

It turns out that Ranko was not a lucky person. The next day, it was raining heavily. This meant that she couldn't go outside to spend a day with Ranma. Kasumi had forbidden them from going outside, for obvious reasons. Ranko was rather upset by that. She had wanted to try to get to know Ranma a bit better. Yesterday was one crazy day, like the day before it. Ranma had apparently figured out that he was in love with her, although Ranko didn't know how she felt about him yet. She didn't want to think about her feelings yet, though, it was too early for that. She would have to first know who Ranma Saotome really was before she could try to figure out what she felt for him.

She sighed whilst sitting down, well it wouldn't be today. She sat there, watching the rain fall from the window. After some time had passed, she felt someone's presence next to her. She turned around to see Ranma kneeling beside her, looking worried.

"Are you okay, Ranko?" He asked. He looked like he was genuinely worried about her. She managed to hide the blush that was going to creep onto her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just depressing to see today rain like this." She replied. She had so many good ideas for what to do to get to know Ranma better, but because of the stupid weather, she couldn't do anything today.

"You sure? You don't look that good." He stated, noticing her clear unhappiness with the weather. She was really shocked at how easily he read her emotions. Kasumi and Akane didn't notice anything. How did he figure it out so quickly? Ranma smirked at her now confused expression.

"Hey, I'm not as stupid as I look." He explained. Actually he completely guessed that Ranko was feeling sad but he wasn't gonna say it aloud. She looked confused for a moment before smirking back at him. She noticed his eyes glint with mischief as soon as he said he read her eyes, so she knew that he was lying.

"You're lying. You just guessed, didn't you?" She proclaimed. The situation was now reversed. Ranko ended up with the smirk, whilst Ranma was confused. He suddenly smirked back at her.

"Well, at least you aren't acting all depressed anymore." He stated, successfully catching Ranko off guard. He was that concerned about her? She really wasn't used to him being so concerned for her. _Right, he's apparently in love with me. Of course he would be worried. _She mentally face palmed after realising that. Ranma continued, pretending as if he didn't notice what Ranko just did.

"So, what do you wanna do today then?" He asked, wondering what she would be interested in doing on such a rainy day. She didn't know what to do, there was nothing to do. At the very least, there was nothing to do outside.

"I have no idea." She simply replied. Ranma thought for a moment before punching his fist onto his hand, as an idea struck him.

"How about we play chess?" He suggested.

"Hold on, chess? Why would you wanna play chess?" Ranko asked, very confused by Ranma's suggestion. She didn't think that he was the type of person to play chess. _This is why I need to hang out with him a lot more! I don't know much about him! _She thought to herself. Well, why not? Ranma may not know this but she was the best Under 19 chess player in China. She wasn't going to hold back either, so she had a chance to beat Ranma. She smirked.

"Alright then, let's play chess." She agreed. She was confident that she was gonna win. After all, Ranma was not best known for being intelligent. She didn't mind that though, it just made him more interesting. She quickly got a hold of her thoughts before she went haywire with them.

"Cool, I'll go see if everyone else wants to play." Ranma stated. He wanted to see who else was bored and who else wanted to play chess. Well, his real reason was to prevent him and Ranko from getting any closer together. If they did, it would only make it harder for him to deal with his feelings and to deal with losing her within his own body.

Ranko just smirked at his retreating figure. She was going to enjoy this. Ranma may be in love with her, but she was gonna enjoy whatever she could do to beat him down. She was competitive; she loved to win, however she wasn't an arrogant winner. She still loved to win, though. Ranma had no idea what he was getting himself into. Or so she thought.

* * *

The entire family wanted to join in the games. Mostly because they were extremely bored but also so that they could laugh at how much Ranma would suck at the game. They knew Ranma for a long time and they knew that he wasn't the brightest person in the neighbourhood. He was also a sore loser, so they would milk him for this weakness.

The first game was between Ranma and Ranko. Ranko had a confident smirk on her face, as if she already won the game. Ranma had no expression on his face. He was completely neutral. He picked up the black chess pieces.

"You can have first move, Ranko." He stated coolly, not looking at her reaction. Ranko was puzzled, why would he allow her to have first move? Was he mocking her? She continued smirking at him, assuming that he was just making fun of her.

"You're gonna regret that, Ranma." That was her simple reply to his generosity. She wasn't going to hold back now. He gave her first move, as a form of insult. Now, she wouldn't just reply calmly and move on. She was going to reply with fire!

She started in the way she normally did, trying to read her opponent through what moves she made. Ranma, however, remained expressionless, calmly responding to every one of her attacks. Ranko was puzzled. _It's as if he's completely changed!_ She was beginning to get frustrated after a while when he calmed moved one of his pawns. She captured it immediately.

"You do realise that you've only got one pawn left Ranma?" She asked, wondering why he was playing in this fashion. He had lost 7 of his pawns for literally nothing. He just smirked in response as he moved another piece into position.

"Yeah, I realise." He replied nonchalantly. He was seemingly ignorant of what was happening on the chess board. _Does he even know how to play?_ She wondered before moving her next piece into position. Everyone just continued watching. So far they expected only this to happen. After a couple of moves had been exchanged, Ranma had moved one of his pieces into position again.

"Checkmate." He stated calmly. Ranko blinked for a moment before looking at the board again. She stared for a while before displaying a horrified expression. He was right. There was nowhere for her king to go, without being captured. It was, well and truly, checkmate. How did this happen? Wasn't she winning just a few moves ago? As Ranko stared at him, completely confused, everyone just looked astonished at what they witnessed. Somehow Ranma had gotten checkmate, despite losing badly in the number of pieces captured. He was just smirking at everyone. He knew that everyone thought that he was stupid at chess, which was what made this even more interesting. After a while of Ranko giving a puzzled expression, Ranma decided to speak up.

"Shouldn't we move so that other people can play?" He asked, waiting for Ranko to lose her confused expression. He wanted to see the other games; he was interested to see how good everyone else was at chess. Ranko finally snapped out of her daze and got up from her seat, following Ranma, who had already gotten up from his seat. They then sat down where everyone else was sitting.

The next couple of games were interesting. Not everyone was as good at chess as Ranko and apparently Ranma were. Well, apart from Nabiki. She was really good at the game, as everyone expected. Genma just continued to cheat at every opportunity possible. Eventually it got to the point where Nabiki and Ranma were squared off against each other. Unexpectedly Ranma even beat Nabiki at chess, which everyone was collectively dumbfounded at. As the games of chess finished, everyone went for dinner. Everyone but Ranko and Ranma went for dinner.

Those two just sat down outside the dojo in silence together. It seemed that neither of them knew how to start the conversation. That is, until Ranko spoke up.

"How are you so good at chess?" She asked the question that was on everyone's mind. Ranma certainly did not look like the type of person who enjoyed playing chess, never mind being good at it. He just smirked back at her, he seemed to be smirking a lot nowadays, Ranko quickly noted before listening in to what he was going to say.

"Are you surprised?" He decided to ask back, still wearing his confident smirk. He knew that no one expected him to be good at chess, which made playing it all the more fun. He enjoyed seeing everyone's shocked faces when he beat both Ranko and Nabiki, who were the best chess players amongst all of them.

"Well, yeah! I never thought you were the type of person who would play chess and be good at it!" Ranko exclaimed, still waiting for an answer from Ranma.

"Well, I don't know when it started. My dad said I needed to do something else, apart from training to be the best martial artist. I ended up going to chess." Ranma explained. Ranko couldn't believe what he just said. _So he just stumbled upon it randomly?! _She wondered.

"So, you just found it randomly then?" She voiced her thoughts.

"Pretty much, that's all to it." He replied very simply. There really was nothing to it, he just picked a game and it happened to be chess.

"How are you so good at it though?" She asked, still wondering how he beat her, the Under 19 chess champion of China. He started smirking again.

"I had lots of practice. That's all." He stated, giving another simple reply.

"I had no idea that you would even be interested in chess at all."

"Well, now you know. There's more to me than just martial arts and random fights with my dad." He proclaimed. To be fair to Ranko, no one else knew about his ability to play chess. Well, no one apart from his dad of course. He didn't blame her for assuming that he was bad at a strategy game.

Ranko only blinked in response. This was the reason why she didn't want to assume anything with her feelings yet. She didn't know the real Ranma Saotome. This is also why she wanted to get to know him better, so that she didn't have to always have a comical look of disbelief on her face all the time. It irritated her of how little they knew of each other. As she was thinking this, she was disturbed by Ranma asking her a question.

"Well what about you then? How are you so good at chess? You were not easy to beat!" Ranma exclaimed. He was also curious as to how Ranko was literally one of the toughest opponents in chess that he's had. Her and Nabiki, but Nabiki was easy to understand.

"I was the best Under 19 chess player in China!" She proclaimed proudly. She was literally unbeatable in that tournament she went to. No one even lasted more than 5 minutes. That said a lot about how good Ranma was if he lasted 15 minutes against her. Her, of all people! Ranma blinked in surprise, before smiling at her.

"That explains why you were so tough to beat." He stated, finally understanding why she took longer than his other opponents. Normally he would only take a maximum of 5 minutes to beat a regular chess player. He was surprised that he won now. He didn't actually think that he was that good at chess, but apparently he was. He looked at Ranko, who seemed to be in deep thought. _Wow, she looks amazing._ He thought before smacking himself. He decided that he would have to be a jerk, if he wanted to stop Ranko from falling in love with him and from pursuing any relationship with him. He smirked arrogantly for a while, which Ranko noticed. She smacked him on his face.

"Owwwww! Why would you do that?" He asked, wincing from how hard Ranko had smacked him. _She hurts more than Akane does!_ He noticed whilst trying desperately to avoid Ranko's glare. He was clutching his cheek in pain.

"You know why. You were being too smug there, so I had to smack you back down to earth." She said simply, enjoying the fact that she got to smack him in the face. She laughed at how he pouted at her. Eventually, he 'hmphed' at her and turned around, making her laugh at him again. He was being so incredibly childish. He then smirked back at her, which made her wary of what he was going to do next.

"At least I beat you!" He said smugly, watching for Ranko's reaction. She glared at him, ready to smack him in the face again.

"What?"

"You heard me; I bet I could beat you again with ease." He said. He was acting very cocky, as if he didn't even try to beat her. She had enough of glaring at him. She charged at him, ready to completely beat him down until he begged for mercy.

"Right, that's it! You're dead Ranma!" She yelled. She was really angry at him now. She was also really confused at how he was acting. Why was he being an arrogant jerk? She didn't care right now though. Right now, Ranma was going down. Within a second of her declaring that, Ranma was off and away, running for his life.

"You'll have to catch me first, Ranko. Not like you will." He further teased her, getting her even more aggravated at him. He didn't know what he was thinking back then but either way, this was a lot of fun. Even when she was angry, Ranma couldn't help but stare at her. _She's even cuter when she's angry. _He noted, before narrowly avoiding one of Ranko's punches.

"Get back here, you jerk!" She exclaimed, getting even more annoyed at Ranma when he just pulled his tongue in front of her before continuing to run like mad. They had reached the living room, where everyone was eating dinner. Everyone looked up to see Ranko chasing Ranma down. She had a terrifying expression, one which made everyone think that Akane's terrifying expression was inferior.

Ranko and Ranma were careful to avoid everyone and everyone's food, as they hopped across the living room. There were at it for about 5 minutes until Ranma eventually left the living room, which Ranko head on his heels. Everyone looked at where they left, before sighing and going back to their food. With all the craziness that has happened throughout the last year, they were used to it by this point.

After they left the living room; the chase continued for a couple of minutes outside. It was raining so heavily, but they didn't seem to care about it. Suddenly Ranma stopped to take a breather. He quickly regretted that decision. He heard Ranko yell suddenly and turned around. Ranko bumped into him, not expecting him to stop so suddenly. They fell down in the same position as they were in just yesterday, with the raindrops falling from their faces and onto the ground. Ranma was completely dazed; he was too busy staring at Ranko, who had a confused expression on her face. She quickly got up from that awkward position they were in position, with a huge blush on her face clearly visible. Ranma got up and couldn't help but stare. It was impossible for him to look away from her. It got to the point where Ranko smacked him on his other cheek. He yelped in surprise.

"Owwwww!" He screamed, clutching his other cheek now.

"That's what you get for acting like a jerk!" She yelled in anger.

Both of them were silent after that. They just stood in the rain, not caring about how wet they were getting. Ranma was in deep thought once again, until Ranko snapped him out of it.

"Why'd you do that? Why did you act like a jerk?" She asked, truly puzzled as to why he did that. He smirked again, he had been smirking way too often, Ranko noted before listening to his reason.

"It was fun." He stated.

"What?"

"It was fun to see you get so aggravated." He said. His cocky smirk was still very visible to Ranko.

"Why you…"

"Chill out for a second. Jeez. You were really cute when you got mad, by the way." He added, noticing the death glare that was coming his way. He was lucky. Ranko ended up blushing feverishly before looking away from him. He just raised an eyebrow in response.

"Ranma…"

"What? You are cute when you get mad!" He said, worried that she might not actually believe him. If she didn't, she had an even better reason to pound him into the ground.

She said nothing for a while. The only sound that they could hear was from the rain that was repeatedly attacking their faces mercilessly. Ranma began to worry. Did she think that he was lying? He couldn't allow that, he would have to say more.

"Ranko, I'm telling the truth. You are cute when you're mad. You're even cuter when you smile, or do anything else. Don't think for a second that you're not cute." He said sincerely. He did truly mean those words. That was only the tip of the iceberg as to what he really thought about her. Ranko's face was completely red now. She was completely swooned by what he said. She was so swooned that she had to walk away, ignoring Ranma's pleas to come back.

She knew that he was telling the truth. She could also tell that he had more to say about her. She couldn't take that; she couldn't take anymore kind words coming from Ranma. He was being too nice. Up till that point, she hadn't realised just how much he had fallen for her. She thought previously that he just had a big crush on her. She didn't realise that he was completely and utterly serious about being in love with her.

She realised then, that she had to figure out her feelings for him as quickly as possible, otherwise Ranma and her could end up completely heart broken. She may even end up ruining something that she could have had, which she obviously didn't want to do. After the first question of whether or not she was in love with him or not, the next question was what they would do after that. What would happen if they pursued a relationship together? More importantly, could they find a way to stay separated forever? If they could, there would be nothing holding them back.

_I've got to find Happosai soon! Otherwise we'll never be able to start a relationship. If we wanted to, that is. _She had three things she wanted to do over the next couple of days. The first thing she wanted to do was to get to know Ranma Saotome a lot better. Right now she didn't really know much about him, which is why she couldn't figure out what her feelings were for him. The second thing was to find Happosai, wherever he was, to see if there was a way they could stay separated forever. The final thing she wanted to do was to escape all this drama that has happened these past few days. _Honestly, if I don't escape from this drama, I'll lose whatever sanity I have left!_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_It's gotten to the point where I'm not sure whether or not you're even my friend anymore! _That thought had been mercilessly haunting Ryoga for quite a while now. It had been 2 or 3 days ago since Ranma had said that. Ryoga still wondered why those cold words were haunting him this badly. _Why does it hurt me this badly? Do I really consider him to be a really good friend deep down? _He hadn't really given it thought. He was so used to feeling hate for Ranma that he hadn't stopped to think what he actually considered him to be.

He had stayed in a hotel for 3 nights. He had received quite a bit of money from his adventures out in the wild, enough to stay in the hotel for 3 nights. He would finally have to leave the place and really think about what he really wanted. 3 nights of thinking and he still wasn't completely sure about what to do.

Whether he considered him to be his friend or enemy, Ryoga knew something. He knew that he had to apologize to him. If it was not for his own sake, then it would be for Akane's sake. He didn't want Akane to suffer from Ranma's now pessimistic attitude, which he guessed that Ranma would be in now. The next problem, though, was how does he go about apologizing to Ranma? Would a simple sorry be enough? Or did Ranma need more to be comforted? While he was thinking this, he didn't realise that he was yet to still leave the hotel. _Why is this so difficult to do? I just have to apologize to him then everything's back to normal. _

His head was hurting so badly from thinking about this to the extent that he has. He really needed to relax; he was far too tensed by Ranma's sudden anger. He wanted to get some food in his stomach quickly. When he asked a random stranger, they suggested to go to Shampoo's restaurant. It was one of the best restaurants in the town. Ryoga eventually decided to agree with the stranger, he also knew Shampoo so it wasn't too bad of an idea to go to her restaurant. He hoped that when he got there, his tension would be gone.

* * *

The next day was a far better day. It had stopped raining now, which meant that they would actually be able to do something outside. This also meant that Ranko could get to know Ranma a bit more. After last night's event she really needed to get to know him better. She really needed to figure out her feelings for Ranma, otherwise Ranma would end up being completely dejected for a long time. .

Apparently Kasumi said that there was only enough food for Soun, Genma, Nabiki and herself. So Ranko would have to go with Ranma and Akane to get some breakfast. They were busy deciding where to go. They were debating for quite a while until Kasumi had eventually suggested going to Shampoo's restaurant. They were one of the top restaurants in the town and they were friends, so why not? At least that's what Kasumi thought. And everyone knew that you do not defy Kasumi.

Ranko had yet to meet Shampoo. Apparently she was one of Ranma's friends, who had initially been after Ranma. According to Ranma though, she had decided to pursue a relationship with some other guy called Mousse, who was also another one of Ranma's friends. She was glad that this was the case. If Shampoo was after Ranma then Ranko would have to have some stern words with her.

_Wait, why am I so annoyed at the thought of Ranma being with someone else?_ This was something she was quite puzzled on. She wasn't sure whether it was because she was in love with Ranma or whether it was some other reason entirely. She decided to think about that later on, right now Ranma, Akane and her were gonna leave for Shampoo's place. _At least we'll have some good food. _She thought, leaving the dojo with Ranma and Akane.

* * *

Ranma, Ranko and Akane had expected to just eat some breakfast and then go home back to the dojo. What they didn't expect, however, was running into Ryoga, who was going to Shampoo's restaurant. He also had a shocked look on his face. He couldn't believe that the problem he had been debating was finally going to be solved after all. He decided that he might as well apologize now. That way he could calmly eat some breakfast after it was done. He approached Ranma cautiously, trying to gauge his emotions. He seemed to be considerably happier than he was before. _Do I still need to apologize?_ He briefly wondered before deciding to just go for it.

"Ranma, I…I'm sorry." That was all he could think to say. He briefly cursed himself for just saying sorry alone. He had planned to confess what he really thought of their friendship, but it seemed that a mere apology was all he could muster out. Ranma had no expression on his face, which made it difficult for Ryoga to tell whether or not he needed to continue. He decided that he should elaborate.

"No that's not enough, just saying sorry isn't enough. For years now I've thought of you as my enemy, someone who I've had only complete hate for. But I've been lying to myself all this time. You've really been the only friend I've had. Even when you did beat me all those time, you were secretly hoping that I would continue 'hating' you, so that I could become stronger, weren't you? You've helped me so many times as well. Whenever I needed help, you were always there. I guess I didn't realise until this point that you've been such a good friend to me. Can you forgive me?" He finally finished. He was slightly surprised that he said those words; he hadn't thought that he cared about being Ranma's friend this much.

Ranma had an astonished look on his face. He didn't expect Ryoga to be this deep in his apology. He had actually forgotten about that incident all together, actually. He wasn't used to Ryoga considering him a good friend. Ryoga was there, waiting patiently for what he had to say to his apology.

"…Wow." Ranma said. That was all he could think of saying. Ranko and Akane just gave looks of disbelief towards him. Ryoga just looked at him for a second before getting angry at what he said.

"Wow? Is that all you have to say to that? I give you a big apology and all you have to say to that was 'Wow'?" He asked, slightly annoyed that Ranma didn't even feel like giving him a proper answer to his plead for forgiveness.

"I don't know what to say. Nice speech?" Ranma tried to say innocently. It only got him an angry glare from Ryoga.

"Nice speech? Why can't you take this seriously?!" He asked, not even bothering to hide the anger in his voice. He had spent 3 nights incredibly depressed, more than he usually is. That was all Ranma had to say to that? Ranma just smirked at him, irritating the lost boy further.

"Now there's the Ryoga I know. You actually got me worried there." Ranma said brazenly, ignoring the looks of shock he got from Akane and Ranko. Ryoga was also confused at what Ranma said, before Ranma decided to continue.

"Look man, I've already forgiven you. Like I said before we're not enemies. But we're not friends either." He stated, further confusing everyone in the restaurant.

"We're not?" Ryoga had to ask. He surprisingly didn't feel too depressed though.

"No, we're rivals Ryoga. Remember that, we're rivals." Ranma stated, smirking throughout the entire time. Ryoga was still confused for a second. He then began smirking as well. He was beginning to understand what Ranma was implying.

"You're right. We're rivals. That's all there is to it." Ryoga agreed with Ranma, inwardly happy that Ranma had forgiven him. Ranko and Akane just stared at them both, positive that they both were completely nuts. Ranma noticed this.

"Don't worry, I'll explain it to you guys later. So, anyone want to eat food now?" He asked, hoping to move on from this topic. He desperately needed some food now; he hadn't expected Ryoga to actually apologize to him. Even if he did slightly he didn't expect Ryoga to go all out as he did. He didn't even realise that he helped Ryoga that much. _Looks like I am more of a friend to him than we both thought. _

"Whoa, hold it there! Can you explain what just happened now?" Akane asked. She really didn't know what had transpired between Ryoga and Ranma there. She was fine with the bit where Ryoga was asking for forgiveness. That made sense. What didn't make sense was how Ranma said that they weren't friends, that they were rivals. Why did he say that? Fortunately for Akane, Ranma could tell what she meant by her question. He decided to explain right now.

"Okay, basically Ryoga and I have always been rivals. Sometimes I would beat him at fighting; sometimes he would beat me at fighting. We always competed to be the best. Now I'm too used to Ryoga hating me, so much that I can't get used to us being nice to each other. So if we're not friends and we're not enemies then we're rivals. That's it." Ranma attempted to explain. Ranko and Akane both looked at him with a blank expression before sighing. It was Ranma so he rarely made any sense at all. They might as well just ignore what he said and move on.

"Wow. And you called me stupid?" Ryoga asked, clearly mocking Ranma. Ranma quickly turned around, glaring at Ryoga.

"Oh come on! What else was I meant to say?" He asked him, annoyed that Ryoga had the upper hand on him.

"I don't know, but I bet I could have done a better job than you did." Ryoga replied, remaining strangely clam about all this. He was acting very smug as well, which continued to irritate Ranma.

"You wish! You'd probably stutter after the first sentence!" Ranma proclaimed, enjoying how he quickly got the upper hand back. Ryoga started glaring at him.

"Hey! I'm not that awkward around girls!" Ryoga yelled, annoyed that he suddenly lost his upper hand against Ranma. Ranma just smirked in response. Ryoga hated that cocky smirk of his, it only further infuriated him.

"Damn you Ranma!" Ryoga yelled. Ranma just laughed at him, which only provoked more of Ryoga's anger. Ranko and Akane just shook their heads looking at the two. They were…interesting friends to each other. The two finally stopped bickering to turn to the two girls, who were busy questioning their sanity. No one spoke for a while. They just stood there in silence, until Ranko finally had enough.

"Well? What now?" She asked. She hated having to go through this awkward silence where nobody felt like talking. She was also getting sick of the constant smirks being given by Ranma, like now. Akane had a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, Shampoo's restaurant doesn't actually open for another hour, so I guess we could go to the park." Akane suggested. Everyone agreed on that idea, well everyone except for Ranma. He was so hungry and wanted to get some food badly. But, of course, his opinion didn't matter, so they went to the park. The park turned out to still be wet from last day's horrible weather. Ranma sat down on a bench, thinking about something in apparent deep thought, whereas Ryoga went to walk around the park. Akane decided to join Ryoga in his walk, however, Ranko wanted to take a breather from all the excitement that has happened during the past few days. Even this morning something dramatic had to happen. Ranma and Ranko just sat there in blissful silence, until Ranko decided to start a conversation.

"So, what's on your mind, Ranma?" She asked. She noticed that he's been in deep thought for quite a while. He's also done this more than a couple of times, which made her wonder what was going on inside of Ranma's head.

"I really didn't expect Ryoga to apologize like that." Ranma said, feeling like he should reveal some of his emotions. It was only the two of them, so there was no need to hide anything. Ranko was a bit surprised.

"Why wouldn't he apologize? You two have been friends for a long time now haven't you?" She asked, wondering why Ranma thought that Ryoga would just abandon this long friendship of theirs. Was Ryoga that bad whenever he tried to injure Ranma?

"No, that's not what I meant! What I meant was that I didn't expect him to say what he said. In other words I didn't think that Ryoga would go all out with the apology." Ranma explained. Ranko now, sort of, understood. Ranma was surprised that Ryoga was that concerned about his and Ranma's friendship. Ranma didn't think that Ryoga would consider him to be a good friend.

"Isn't that good though? That means that he considers you to be a good friend." Ranko asked, trying to find out why Ranma was thinking about this so much.

"I guess you're right there." Ranma replied, in a very simple manner. There was more silence amongst the two. Ranko was thinking about what Ranma said, whilst Ranma was thinking about his feelings for Ranko.

_She's always there when I need her._ Ranma had been noticing that Ranko was surprisingly helpful to him when he was confused. He had briefly wondered how she was so wise but then shrugged it off immediately. _Another reason why I love her, I guess. _

"What about you? Who was your best friend in China?" Ranma asked, curious to know what type of friends Ranko had. They couldn't be any crazier than his though, could they? She blinked in surprise before answering in a soft tone.

"My best friend was called Sakura. She was an amazing friend. She was also a good martial artist to boot!" Ranko said. She was remembering some good memories with her friend.

"How is she, do you think?" He asked, curious to know more. Looking at her expression he realised too late that he just asked the wrong question. Ranko looked like she was about to break into tears, but she looked like she wanted to talk. Ranma braced himself to help her through this, he owed her this anyway.

"Well, she had to move away from our place to Japan. She didn't even say goodbye to me. She just left. She never tried to be in contact with me at any point. Not once!" As Ranma expected, she broke down into tears. He grabbed her arms and pulled her closely towards him.

"Why didn't she try to talk to me? Was I just a bad friend?" She asked, desperate to find answers to her questions. Ranma didn't know what to say at first. He just held her there for about a minute, in silence, until he spoke up.

"I don't think so. If anything, I'd say that she couldn't talk to you." Ranma stated, wondering if this was the best thing for him to do. Ranko looked up at him, her tear stricken eyes looking for answers.

"What I mean is that she probably couldn't talk to you for some reason but that doesn't mean she didn't want to talk to you! Besides, she wouldn't want you to cry over her. She would want you to enjoy life to the best of your ability." Ranma spouted out, hoping that it was the correct thing to say. At this point he was following what his heart told him. Ranko looked at him with a blank expression. _Oh no! I messed up didn't I? _He thought, frantically trying to think of a way to make Ranko happy. She then suddenly smiled. _Damn, that smile of hers. _It was so beautiful that he couldn't help but stare at her.

"Thank you Ranma." That was all that she said. It was all that needed to be said. Ranma just blushed as she hugged his chest. He was thanking his prayers that he said the right thing, but now there was another little problem. How does he get out of this situation? Does he even want to get out of this situation? He was trying to figure out a way out of this now, leaving Ranko to her own thoughts.

_Wow, that's twice he's comforted me now. He really does care about me doesn't he? _She had been feeling something different about Ranma for quite a while now. Could it be that she's in love with him? She thought about all the times where she had fought with Ranma. She thought about their first encounter in the dojo, the number of times they held eye contact for longer than normal. She remembered how she couldn't stop looking at his eyes. She would continue looking at his eyes for a long time, if she could. She also loved how strong he was, it was truly amazing what strength and agility he had. The confidence he had was amazing as well.

_Wow, I must be in love with him. _She realised, then, that she pretty much liked everything about him. She enjoyed being around him, he was fun to be around. There's always something happening if you hang out with Ranma Saotome.

Ranma was still blushing heatedly from Ranko's action. Right now, he was busy cursing the attraction he had for Ranko. It really didn't help in these situations. To his luck, Ranko had finally let go of him. _She seemed much happier than she was before. _Ranma noted. There was also a different look in her eyes, as if something had changed. That look was there for a second before it turned back to normal. Ranma wondered if he imagined that but shrugged it off. He just decided to lie back down on the bench, not knowing that Ranko was staring at him.

* * *

Ryoga initially wanted to walk around the park alone, so that he could think in silence. He didn't expect Akane, of all people, to want to follow him around. He wasn't sure what to think. _Why does Akane want to come with me on this walk? _That was the biggest question running through his mind. After a while of awkward silence, Akane finally spoke up.

"Ryoga, why did you want to be Ranma's friend again? I thought you hated him!" Akane asked. Ryoga was slightly confused. Why would Akane be interested in his and Ranma's friendship? Nevertheless, because it was Akane, Ryoga had to answer.

"Wha-What do you mean?" Ryoga tried to say in one go but he stuttered slightly. He hated how he was shy when talking to girls.

"From the day I first saw you, you said that you wanted to destroy his happiness. Didn't you manage to do it, if he didn't consider you as his friend?" Akane asked. Ryoga now realised what she meant. Why would he try to make Ranma fell better if he wanted to destroy Ranma's happiness? _That's a good question. _Ryoga thought to himself. This is what he'd been thinking about for the past few days. Could he finally answer that question? After a lot of thinking, Ryoga spoke up.

"I guess I was exaggerating when I said I wanted to destroy his happiness. He's ruined my life so many times. On the other hand, he's helped me so many times that I can't even begin to count them. I guess I gave up on destroying his happiness a long time ago." Ryoga finally stated. He was happy with what he said. That was the simple truth of the matter. He didn't hate Ranma anymore. Yes, he'll get into arguments with him and yes, he'll still try to fight him a few times. But this time, he'll look for a challenge, a friendly spar off, instead of looking for blood. Akane looked at him before questioning him again.

"So you're willing to be Ranma's friend now?" Akane asked. She wasn't sure but she wanted to confirm it with Ryoga. It would take a while before she would get used to those two acting nice to each other, if Ryoga was serious.

"Yeah, I guess I owe him that much. It'll probably be better for all of us as well." Ryoga answered instantly. He had thought about this for a while and now it was time that he let go of the hate and start acting like Ranma's friend. He was still going to annoy him every chance he got, no doubt about that, but it would be more casual than normal. Akane eventually shrugged.

"If you say so." That was all she said. She just started walking at a slightly faster pace, looking far ahead to where Ranma and Ranko were sitting. She gaped at what she was seeing. Ranma was hugging Ranko very tightly, as if he never wanted to let her go. Akane glared. She didn't care whether or not Ranma loved her, she was still really jealous of Ranko. She was so annoyed that she didn't even notice the awkward bump in the field of grass. She ended up tripping on the floor, spraining her ankle. She cried out in pain. Ryoga was by her side within seconds. He helped her up from the ground.

"Are you okay, Akane?" He asked. His voice was filled with genuine concern. Akane was struggling to stand up properly. She managed a half-hearted smile.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine." Akane said. All she got in response was a gaping Ryoga, which she was slightly surprised to see. She didn't remember Ryoga being this protective of someone.

"You're joking! You're ankle is completely sprained!" Ryoga exclaimed, waving his hands towards her ankle. She didn't need to see that though, she knew what had happened, she just didn't want to be seen as weak.

"I'm fine! I can walk through this!" Akane protested. She tried pushing Ryoga away from her but he wasn't budging. He was holding onto her tightly. He then began started walking towards Ranma and Ranko, helping Akane walk there as well. As soon as they got there, Ranma and Ranko collectively gaped.

"What happened?" Ranma asked quickly and loudly.

"Akane sprained her ankle." Ryoga replied calmly.

"Are you alright, apart from the sprained ankle?" Ranko asked. What annoyed Akane was that there was genuine concern in those eyes of her. _Stop being so damn perfect! It's not fair Ranko! _She thought, irritably to herself. She gave a small smile, though.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ryoga's just making a big deal out of it." Akane replied. She was convinced that Ryoga was being paranoid. She only sprained her ankle. Ryoga's eyes hardened slightly.

"No I'm not! She badly hurt, she can barely stand!" He yelled back in rebuttal to Akane's statement. Akane tried to yank her arm away from Ryoga. She succeeded but then immediately fell backwards, due to her sprained ankle.

"See, she can barely stand." Ryoga stated, further proving his point. Ranko just knelt down, going under Akane's arm to lift her up with her.

"Okay, I got her. What now?" Ranko asked, hoping for a quick answer.

"We go to Dr Tofu's clinic. He'll know what to do!" Ranma proclaimed. As soon as he said that, the four began walking to Dr Tofu's clinic. Every now and then you could hear the grunts coming from Akane, due to her sprained ankle, and Ranko, who was helping Akane walk. Ranma and Ryoga just walked silently behind the two girls, calmly thinking about the girl they loved. For Ranma, it was Ranko who he couldn't stop having thoughts about. For Ryoga, it had always been Akane from the very beginning. He would stick by her side, until she eventually gives up on Ranma. Ryoga had a feeling that he would finally get his chance. He saw the way Ranma and Ranko were hugging. He also saw the way Ranma looked at Ranko. _He must be in love with her. _That was the same look he would give to Akane every day. _At least I don't have any competition for Akane now. _He thought happily to himself. _Someday, you will be mine Akane Tendo._


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N:**Hey Guys! Sorry about this chapter being uploaded slightly late, but I still hope you'll enjoy it. We're now on Chapter 10! Enjoy!

**Chapter 10**

Fortunately for Akane, her ankle wasn't injured too badly. Dr Tofu had stated that it was only a mild ankle sprain and that it could have been a lot worse. He also said that it should only take 1 week for it to be completely healed. Since everyone was feeling hungry and since Akane couldn't walk on her own, Ranko volunteered to help Akane walk to Shampoo's restaurant. Ranma, Ryoga, Ranko and Akane were walking to Shampoo's restaurant at this moment. Generally it was silent, until Ranma insulted Ryoga for his poor sense of direction. Ryoga just glared at him, which made both Ranko and Akane sigh. They eventually reached Shampoo's restaurant and chose a group of seats in the corner to sit at. Ranma was sitting next to Ranko, whilst Ryoga was sitting beside Akane. Shampoo noticed who they were and walked over to them.

"Nihao, Ranma! You come to visit Shampoo?" Shampoo asked. Akane and Ryoga both noticed that she seemed much happier than she usually was.

"We came here to eat breakfast. Is that alright?" Ranma replied. Fortunately for him, he wasn't so shaken up by Shampoo anymore. It was because of the fact that she began dating Mousse. This meant that she wouldn't be trying any crazy tricks to get him to marry her. Shampoo just smiled back at him.

"That is no problem. You are welcome anytime." She replied. It was only then that she noticed Ranma female form looking at her curiously. Shampoo looked back to male Ranma then female Ranma in confusion.

"Right I forgot to mention. My girl form and I have been separated because of some conflict in my body. Her name is Ranko. Ranko, this is Shampoo." Ranma quickly introduced the two. Ranko just stared at Shampoo for a while before smiling.

"Nice to meet you Shampoo." Ranko said politely. She didn't want to make any enemies with Ranma's friends. Shampoo looked at Ranko before responding normally.

"Nice to meet you too." She replied. As soon as that was over with, she asked them what they wanted to eat. After that she just went back into the kitchen to cook the food. She told them that Mousse would serve them the food, but that it would take a while to cook what they wanted. This left Ranma, Ranko, Ryoga and Akane to talk amongst themselves.

"Ranma, didn't you say something about Mousse and Shampoo dating?" Ryoga asked. He just remembered that Ranma had told them, in the midst of his rage, that Shampoo and Mousse had apparently started dating. Ryoga now wanted to confirm that again with Ranma, this time with a cooler head.

"Yeah, they're dating." Ranma answered off-handedly. This did not represent his emotions towards this though. He was delighted that Shampoo would no longer try to pester him with stupid ways of trying to make him marry her. He could not ask for more.

"When did this happen though? I thought Shampoo wanted nothing to do with Mousse!" Ryoga continued his line of inquiry, trying to learn how Mousse actually got to date his dream girl. If it was a good method, he may take a few notes from him.

"I can answer that." The four turned to see Mousse looking at them with a neutral expression. He looked to Ranko for a second before landing his eyes on Ranma.

"So, is what Shampoo told me true? Are you separated from your female form for good?" Mousse asked.

"Well, not forever, but yeah, we're separated." Ranma replied. Mousse was slightly annoyed at hearing that the two were separated. After all, he still turned into a bird whenever he got splashed with cold water. He rapidly shook aside his feelings of jealously and began the story of how he and Shampoo got together.

"Basically, it was a long story. One day in the restaurant I heard Ranma enter the restaurant. Shampoo immediately jumped onto him, which infuriated me beyond belief. I said that I had enough of being just a servant. I decided to go back to my home, in China. When I went into the back room to pack up, Ranma here came up to me. We had a small little skirmish before he said that Shampoo had run off into her room. He told me that I had to man up and comfort her. So that's what I did. After I comforted her, I saw Ranma looking at us. He suggested that Shampoo and I should try dating. Shampoo wasn't sure at first but after hearing her 'fiancé' suggest it; she decided to try it out. We've been going out for two weeks now." Mousse told them. Akane and Ryoga were surprised at how it happened. Ranko didn't really have an opinion since she didn't know Shampoo or Mousse.

"So basically it was Ranma who started your relationship?" Akane asked, still refusing to believe it. Since when did Ranma decide to act so nice to his friends?

"Yes, that's true. I do owe you a lot Saotome." Mousse stated.

"Eh, it's fine." Ranma replied casually. He was mainly doing that so that no one could see that internally, he was very grateful for Mousse taking Shampoo out of his hands.

Mousse quickly went to retrieve the food and served them their food. Before he could leave, though, Ranma had something to ask.

"Mousse, how come you don't look that happy? I'd thought that you'd be over the moon dating with Shampoo." Ranma asked. He was genuinely curious as to why Mousse was not showing any major signs of happiness. Mousse just looked back at him, before responding.

"Of course I am but I'm not gonna just start screaming in happiness every time I see Shampoo." Mousse stated. Ranma just smirked back at him.

"Well, at least that's good. For a moment I thought you were gonna say that you don't like Shampoo anymore." Ranma stated. This time it was Mousse who smirked at him in response.

"Ha! You wish Saotome! I'll never give her up!" He replied hastily. He didn't get the response he was looking for. Instead, Ranma just smiled.

"I'm glad, Mousse." Ranma said. Mousse was feeling confused now. Why was Ranma so happy with his relationship with Shampoo? _Wait a second, she won't chase after him anymore! _He smirked to himself, whilst shaking his head. Ranma was being so helpful with their relationship so that Shampoo wouldn't chase him. _Typical Ranma, only thinking about himself. _He thought to himself as he walked away. Meanwhile Ryoga just sat there, glancing at Akane every few seconds. Akane eventually noticed this.

"Why do you keep looking at me, Ryoga?" Akane asked.

"I'm worried for you. That ankle really doesn't look like it's in good shape." Ryoga stated. He was still really worried for Akane. He couldn't help it, that's what being in love would do.

"Dr Tofu said it would be fine! So just leave it Ryoga!" Akane yelled out, losing her patience. Ryoga began stumbling on his words, as Akane's glare towered over him. Ranma and Ranko just sat there, watching this all unfold. Ranko tried to intervene but she was stopped by Ranma.

"Wait, we shouldn't interrupt this." Ranma whispered to Ranko.

"Are you crazy?! Akane's gonna tear him to pieces right now!" Ranko had whisper-yelled in reply. She thought that Ranma had finally gone crazy. Did he want to see his friend get ripped apart?

"If it gets that extreme, we'll calm her down. But for now, I want to see Ryoga stand up to the real Akane. He's always known her as being caring and nice and I'm sick of it! If he's in love with her, he has to accept this Akane!" Ranma whispered back hastily. Ranko was slightly shocked with his explanation. _That's way too clever for Ranma to say_. _There's no way he thought through it this much!_ She just noticed now that he was smirking devilishly. She sighed. _He wants to see Ryoga chewed out by Akane. _

Luckily for the two, Akane and Ryoga were too preoccupied with each other. Akane was still glaring at him, whilst Ryoga was still stuttering on his words.

"Why are you being so paranoid?" Akane asked. She was getting fed up of Ryoga's overbearing concern. She didn't like being looked down upon, especially not now. Ryoga had to fight himself to remain calm. He had to speak to her with a cool head. He managed to look at Akane square in the eye.

"Akane, I'm just worried for you. I'm not looking down at you or anything like that. It's just; I care about your health." Ryoga calmly answered Akane. Akane was surprised at first. No one had ever been this concerned for her. She wasn't used to having this much attention from someone. She began blushing, despite herself. _Wait what? I thought I was in love with Ranma! Then again, he's in love with Ranko. If Ranma's serious about Ranko, I guess I'll have to start looking for someone else. _She thought to herself. Someone…like Ryoga! She had finally calmed down from her anger. Ranma just gaped at what he just witnessed.

_Did Ryoga just calm Akane down? She's impossible to calm down! How did he do it? _Ranma was truly puzzled. He had tried numerous times in the past to try and calm Akane down. All it did was enrage her further, much to his dismay. Yet Ryoga just did it, on his first attempt as well. While he was thinking this, Ranko was shaking her head in disbelief at Ranma.

"Ryoga, I need to know. How on earth did you do that?" Ranma asked. He couldn't help himself; he had to know Ryoga's secrets.

"What do you mean?" Ryoga asked back. Ryoga was confused by Ranma's urgent tone. He looked like he was completely confused and completely amazed by what just happened.

"How on earth did you calm Akane down so easily?" Ranma asked again, this time being more specific. Ryoga just smirked back in reply.

"Why? Have you failed at trying to calm her down?" Ryoga asked, feeling very assured right now. From Ranma's reaction he guessed that Ranma could not calm Akane down as easily as he did. Ranma immediately glared at him.

"No! I was uh…just wondering how you did it." He finished lamely in his retort to Ryoga's accusation. _Damn you Ryoga! _He thought out of spite. He saw Akane look at Ryoga with a certain expression, an expression he had seen Shampoo use when she looked at him before.

_Wait, does this mean that Akane's fallen for Ryoga? _If she had then it was about time. Ryoga, the lost and depressed guy, had been waiting forever for this to happen. Ranma was secretly clapping inside his head. This meant that he wouldn't have to deal with Akane's over reactions anymore! Ryoga would! He couldn't wait for Ryoga to finally ask Akane out, now. The sooner Ryoga did, the better it would be for his sake. _Hmm, but Ryoga'll never do it! He's too shy and pathetic. I hate doing this but I'm gonna have to do some matchmaking. _Ranma thought to himself whilst smiling sinisterly. Ryoga and Akane looked at each other, and then looked at Ranma, confused at what Ranma was thinking.

Ranko was still shaking her head. If she had to guess, Ranma had some crazy plan up his sleeve. She saw how Akane looked at Ryoga, how it was full of adoration. What she also noted, was that the look was similar to the look that Ranko herself would give Ranma. This continued to support the idea that Ranko was in love with Ranma Saotome. Even now, she thought that the mischievous side of Ranma was cute.

Ryoga and Akane were still confused at what Ranma was doing. Ranko noticed that he had a certain glint in his eye, one that Ranma was not sure he wanted to know about. Despite this, he had to ask.

"Why do you look like you're plotting something, Ranma?" Ryoga asked, getting to the point straight away. He decided to be blunt with his question, just to save time. Ranma looked at him with a confused expression.

"Huh? What are you talking about Ryoga?" Ranma asked, feigning confusion. It was obvious to anyone that Ranma was hiding something. Ranko could see it clear as day.

"Uh, nothing!" Ryoga replied, hastily. _I must have been imagining it. _He quietly thought to himself as he glanced at Ranma. He didn't look like he was doing anything suspicious anymore. Akane stared at him for a second. Ranma was about to sweat in anxiety until Akane eventually nodded with Ryoga.

"Yep, must have been my imagination." Akane stated, convinced that it was nothing now.

"So, shall we go now?" Ranma asked. He was hoping that they wouldn't suspect him of doing anything else; he was stressed out enough trying to figure out how to pair the two together. He really wanted the two together, so that Akane would finally stop acting so annoyed with him all the time. That would be the best thing that ever happened to him. Plus it would help out Ryoga, his friend, but that was only a small bonus.

Ranko just gaped at what she saw. Were they serious? Did they not see Ranma's blatant lie? She had sworn that she was losing her sanity from this. She turned to look at Ranma with disbelief. All she got in response was one of Ranma's typical cocky smirks. She both hated and loved that smirk. She loved it because it made him look so attractive but she hated it because it made him far too arrogant. _At least he's not perfect. _She thought to herself, although this only made her want to be with him a lot more. _Damn, why do you have to be so amazing Ranma?_


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

After that little drama in Shampoo's restaurant had finished, Ranma began thinking of a way to get Ryoga and Akane together. He first had thoughts about telling Ryoga to man up but that wasn't really going to work. Ryoga would just act like a wimp and probably leave Nerima again, just to emphasise his point. He thought about asking Akane how she felt for Ryoga but that wouldn't really achieve anything either. He sighed. Why was it that, when he wanted to 'help' his friends, he couldn't come up with any ideas on how to? He still racked his brain for any possible ideas that would actually work.

_Wait a second. That could work! _He finally managed to come up with an idea that could work. Since Ryoga was not going to ask Akane out and since Akane wasn't going to reveal how she felt, any time soon, he would have to set them up on a blind date. _Yes, it's the only way this'll work! _He was convinced now that his idea was the only way Ryoga and Akane would get together. He would have to set them up on a date. The next part of the plan was to invite both of them, separately to the same restaurant. He decided that they would go to Shampoo's restaurant. He would have to think of some excuse to get Ryoga and Akane to Shampoo's restaurant. Now, as he was trying to think of an excuse to get the two out in Shampoo's restaurant, he didn't notice Ranko appear behind him.

"So, what are you up to, Ranma?" Ranko asked casually. She had a feeling that she knew already but remained stoic, waiting for Ranma's response.

"Nothing. I don't know what you're implying." Ranma replied, using his neutral voice. Ranko was starting to get irritated by Ranma's innocent act. He may be able to miraculously fool his friends but Ranko was more perceptive than others. She could see that Ranma was planning something. Based on what she knew about him already, she was very worried about what was gonna happen this time.

"Stop lying to me, Ranma! I know you're hiding something from me!" Ranko glared at him. She had decided that the only way to know what he was up to was to use a forceful tone on him. She was right. Ranma flinched at hearing her yell but smirked immediately afterwards, for some strange reason. She wondered if he finally lost his sanity, it wouldn't surprise her at this point. She instead thought about how he hadn't lost his sanity up till this point.

"Well, I can't hide anything from you, can I?" Ranma asked. He was wearing a strange expression on his face. That strange expression disappeared incredibly quickly though. He was now grinning maniacally. Ranko was beginning to really get worried. _What is he up to? _That was the only thing that was running through her mind.

"If you have to know, I'm trying to get Ryoga and Akane together." Ranma answered, finally easing Ranko a tiny bit. She still looked sceptical, however. Why would Ranma want to get Ryoga and Akane together? She voiced her question out loud to him. Ranma thought about this before answering Ranko's next question.

"Well, Ryoga deserves to have Akane all to himself.. Akane also needs someone like Ryoga to calm her down. That's why." Ranma answered, which earned an immediate look of disbelief from Ranko. _There's no way he's doing it for their sake. No way! _Ranma was not the type of guy who would do this just for his friend's sake. Sure, he cared about his friends, but he wouldn't do this for their sake. There was something else to this, something else that Ranma would get from Ryoga and Akane being together. Ranko pondered this for a while. _Oh wait! Could it really be…that? It has to be!_ She then suddenly smirked. As she expected, Ranma was not doing it for their sake.

"You're still lying to me, Ranma." Ranko proclaimed. She got the reaction she wanted. Ranma had a worried look on his face now.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ranma still tried to play it innocent. Ranko just shook her head at him in response. _He's way too stubborn. _She continued smirking at him.

"You're not doing it for their sake. You're doing it so that you don't have to deal with Akane's stupid anger problems!" Ranko yelled out. She hoped that she was right; otherwise the situation would end up being incredibly awkward. She was right on the money. Ranma was shocked that Ranko had managed to figure it out. He started smiling, though, all of a sudden. Ranko was getting confused now. _Was I wrong? Why is he smiling?!_

"Yep, you got me." Ranma replied. He was still smiling at Ranko, which made her wary of what would happen next. _This guy! He's just…unpredictable! _She had no idea how one person could be so mysterious. Every day she felt as if she needed to go lie down somewhere and gather her thoughts. Whilst she was thinking this, she hadn't noticed that Ranma was walking off. She quickly ran up to him, trying to catch up.

"Wait! How do you know that this plan of yours won't backfire?" Ranko asked. She wasn't ready to just let Ranma go on with his plan. From what she saw of Akane's anger yesterday, she was very worried for his well-being. Ranma just looked at her, his usual smirk plastered on his face.

"It won't. That's all you need to know." He replied before continuing to walk away. Ranko rapidly grabbed his arm, though, still intent from deterring Ranma away from his plan.

"But what if-" She was stopped by Ranma placing his finger on her lips. He still had his smirk on his face.

"You really need to chill out, Ranko. You're too tense." Ranma said in a cool tone of voice. Ranko was blushing now. Listening to his voice then, with his finger on her lips, it was too much for her to resist blushing from. _Damn him! _Why was she blushing from such a small thing? Why did she have to be so attracted to Ranma? He finally just walked off, no doubt planning a way to get Ryoga and Akane together, leaving Ranko to contemplate what just happened. With one finger, Ranma had completely silenced her.

She stood there for a while before she began to smirk as well. _Fine, if that's the way he wants to play it. _She put her finger on her lips, where Ranma placed his, and stared straight at his back. _I'll get you back for that. You don't know when, and you don't know how, but I will get you back! _She thought as she was watching his body disappear onto the streets. She decided to follow him to wherever he was going.

Ranma went to go and first convince Ryoga to go to Shampoo's restaurant. He figured that Ryoga would be easier to convince, as he willingly admitted that he was in love with Akane, so he decided to get him to go. That way there would be plenty of time to convince Akane to go. He heard footsteps following him, however, and turned around swiftly. He was met with Ranko's neutral expression.

"Ranko? Why are you following me?" Ranma asked. He knew that she was against his idea to get Akane and Ryoga together but he didn't know why she was following him.

"To make sure that you don't end up dead from trying to complete your crazy plan." Ranko replied with a resigned tone of voice. She figured that she wouldn't be able to stop him. The only thing she could do now was make sure that Ryoga and Akane don't tear him apart.

"Hey! That's not very motivating!" He whined in response to Ranko's accusation. He hoped that Ranko would end up being wrong about Ryoga and Akane wanting to hurt him badly, otherwise he may have to reconsider doing this plan.

"That's the point! Why are you still doing this if you know that they'll be very annoyed at you?" Ranko asked. She knew Ranma was not the most logical person in Nerima but at least he has to have some reason for being so committed to getting Akane and Ryoga together. Ranma didn't reply, which got Ranko thinking. Could all of this really be because of Akane?

"Is this really all to do with stopping Akane from beating you up randomly?" She voiced her thoughts. She had a feeling that there was more to do with this than just simply getting rid of Akane's anger towards him.

"No." Ranko was surprised to hear Ranma answer her question almost instantaneously. His demeanour had slightly changed as well. He was acting a bit more serious, something Ranko was thankful to see.

"Then what is the reason?" Ranko asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this. Ranma looked at Ranko for a while before responding.

"Because I'm sick and tired of Ryoga always complaining about how he's so pitiful and how he'll never have Akane, even though he wants her so badly." Ranma answered. He didn't want to say this but yes, he was feeling sorry for his friend. Well, he was just sick and tired of how pathetic Ryoga acted all the time whenever the topic was Akane. Ranko was astonished. Since when was Ranma worried for his friends? She smiled, despite herself.

Now Ranma was the one confused. Why was Ranko smiling? He had just basically said that Ryoga was pathetic. He had honestly expected Ranko to slap him in the face and berate him for making fun of his friends. _Oh wait, she's not Akane. Thank God! _

"You're right about one thing. Ryoga's quite pathetic isn't he?" Ranko said, agreeing with Ranma's opinion. Ranma was shocked at what he heard. He thought that he must have gone deaf for a second. _I must be imagining this! She actually agreed with me? _He was completelydumbstruck at that moment. Ranko just smirked at him as she walked past him, going the direction where Ranma was intending to go. She turned her head around for a second, still smirking.

"So, you gonna move anytime soon? We have to get a couple together after all." She asked innocently, sending poor Ranma into further confusion. Ranma literally thought that he had lost his sanity right there. Since when did someone agree with his opinion? More importantly why did Ranko say that they had to get a couple together? He thought that she was totally against the idea. So what got her to swiftly change her mind? _Ranko, why do you have to be so complicated to understand? _He guessed that it was another reason as to why he was in love with her. Another reason why he was hopelessly in love with the person he couldn't be with.

* * *

Ryoga was surprised to see both Ranma and Ranko visit him. He was still staying in the hotel from before, as it turns out, he had plenty of money to pay for another couple of nights. He had to thank his lucky stars that the group of people, that he recently helped in the wilderness, were generous enough to give him a lot of money. This way he didn't have to stay as P-Chan in Akane's house. He did enjoy staying in Akane's household but it was annoying that he had to become a pig every time in order to stay there. He'd rather prefer staying in the nice hotel he was in right now. _Oh right, Ranma and Ranko are here. _He briefly lost track of himself in thought, again.

"So, why are you guys here?" Ryoga had to ask. He wasn't sure what was going on but he had a feeling that Ranma was up to something here. There was no way he came here just to visit him.

"Ryoga, are you doing anything tonight?" Ranma asked back. Ryoga was getting puzzled now. Why was Ranma interested in what he was doing tonight? What was he up to?

"No, why?" He replied quickly, waiting to hear what Ranma wanted from him.

"In that case, how'd you like to go on a date with Akane at Shampoo's restaurant?" Ranma asked. He pretty much expected Ryoga to instantly agree to the idea. What he didn't expect was Ryoga narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously, as if he didn't believe Ranma at all.

"What's the catch? You're not really gonna do it, are you?" He asked, sceptical on Ranma's offer. He wanted to believe that it was true but with Ranma he had to be completely sure that he wasn't trying to pull off some stupid prank. Ranma merely grinned in response.

"Of course I am, man! Don't you wanna go on a date with Akane?" Ranma asked, hoping that Ryoga's doubts would be cleared now. It seemed like it was working. Ryoga was beginning to lose his doubts and started to look hopeful.

"I do, but will she go on a date with me?" He asked, still not believing that Akane would. He wasn't completely convinced that Ranma was trying to do this for their sake.

"Of course she will. Now are you gonna go or not?" Ranko asked this time, getting slightly frustrated at how long this was taking. Ranma still firmly believed that Ryoga would agree with his idea quickly.

Ryoga noticed something, however. Ranma and Ranko were standing very close together. He thought back to the moment in the park, where Ranma was hugging Ranko. _Are these two in love? _He wondered if this was true or not. _Well there's only one way to find out, besides it'll be my thanks to him setting me up on a date with Akane. _He instantly started smirking. Ranma was now getting puzzled. Why was Ryoga smirking? What was he up to?

"I'll go but on one condition." Ryoga stated. Ranma did not like where this was going. He had some strange feeling in his stomach. That strange feeling told him that he wouldn't be happy with what Ryoga was gonna suggest now. Ryoga continued speaking.

"You and Ranko have to join me and Akane on a double date." He declared, still smirking avidly at the now blushing pair in front of him. They were both taken by surprise. They, especially Ranma, did not expect Ryoga to suggest that. Ranma was feeling both elated and depressed. He was elated because he got an offer to go on a date with Ranko, the girl he had fallen in love with, but at the same time, he was depressed because it wouldn't be able to progress into anything further, even if it went well. He didn't know what to do. What should he do? Should he go on a date with Ranko, or should he refuse to save himself heartache in the future.

Ranko was in deep thought as well. She was blushing far more than Ranma was. Her face was completely red, almost matching her hair. She wondered whether this was a good idea or not. She would definitely have a good time, no matter what, but would it be worth it, especially if Ranma and she would just join back together. _No, I can't let that just ruin my fun! I've got to make the most of my time. _

"Ok, we'll join you on a date." Ranko answered for both her and Ranma. Ranma turned to her in complete shock. _She agreed? _His mind was blown once again. _How does she keep shocking me all the time? _He wondered why she wanted to go on a date with him. _Could it be that she actually likes me back?_

"Good, I'm glad that's settled. I'll be at Shampoo's restaurant at 8pm." Ryoga stated. No matter what Ranma would say to protect his pride, he was gonna milk him for blushing so much. He would never let this go. It seemed that Ranma realised that as he glared straight at Ryoga, who just smirked in return.

"Alright, we'll see you later, Ryoga." Ranma replied. His voice was neutral, as him and Ranko walked away from the hotel, no doubt going to get ready for tonight. The two would have to tell Akane about what's gonna happen tonight, otherwise Ryoga would end up without a date.

Ranma and Ranko were silent in their journey back to the Tendos dojo. Ranko was in deep thought about tonight. She would never say it out loud but she felt like squealing in happiness. She was able to go on a date with Ranma, although Ranma did not look as excited as she was, for some reason. _Why isn't he excited about this? I thought he would at least smile, considering that he's in love with me. _She then remembered what she heard during Ranma and Akane's discussion. He was depressed about how it would never happen, how they would join back together and be one person. _If that's the reason why he's not happy then I'm gonna have to confront Happosai as quickly as I can. I keep saying it but I never seem to get a chance to actually go for it! _That was usually because she would end up being roped into another crazy day created by Ranma and the gang. It was unreal the amount of drama that happened to them. She sighed out loud just from the thought of it.

Meanwhile Ranma was also thinking about what would happen tonight. He wondered how successful this double date would be. More importantly, for him anyway, he was wondering why Ranko agreed to the double date. Was it just to get Ryoga on the date? Was it because she liked him as well? He was baffled. He wanted to believe that it was because she liked him back but, even if that were the case, it would only make joining back into one body more hurtful for them. He did ask Happosai about this in secret, to see whether or not they could be separated but, unfortunately for him, Happosai had stated earlier that they could not be separated forever. Also, Happosai decided to take a month's vacation off for some random reason, which was just useful. _Well, I hope this double date goes well, at least. _He thought to himself, feeling completely resigned. He would normally keep on fighting but there was simply no chance.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Hey Guys! Again, I can't say it enough, thank you all for taking the time to read this. Here's chapter 12 now. It's a bit shorter than the other chapters but, nevertheless, I hope you'll like it! Enjoy!

**Chapter 12**

It took surprisingly longer than Ranma and Ranko thought, to both explain and convince Akane to go on the double date. Nevertheless, they managed to convince her to go. By 'convince' her they meant allowing Akane to exact her anger on Ranma. Now Ranma was against the idea, for obvious reasons, however, his opinion didn't matter as Ranko agreed to it. She still needed to exact her revenge on Ranma, for him silencing her before. Akane only smiled gleefully as Ranma gulped, hoping that Akane would forget all about this promise of theirs. Despite all this the group were still happy to do this. They were only happy because they got to escape the chaos and drama that seemed to follow them every day in their lives.

Ranko and Akane both chose to wear some of the new clothes they had bought a couple of days ago. Akane wore dark washed jeans along with a blue tank top. Ranko sported the same outfit, except her tank top was red. Ryoga wore a black jacket, with a blue shirt underneath, along with his black jeans. Ranma was forced by his father to wear martial art clothing, although he managed to convince his dad to wear his recently new set of martial art clothes that he received a while ago. He wore a similar long-sleeved shirt, except this one was black, accompanied with a red undershirt, along with black pants. It turns out that by some strange coincidence that they were able to match what their date was wearing. They, however, quickly dismissed it and moved on.

After sitting down at their table, nobody said anything. They just sat there in an awkward silence, waiting for the other to start the conversation. There were a few feeble attempts at making conversation from Ryoga and Akane, but aside from that, the awkward silence was apparent. The problem was that they didn't know what to talk about. So many things had happened the past few days that they just didn't know where to start. After what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, Ranko finally had enough.

"Someone say something! I can't take much more of this!" Ranko yelled out, startling everyone at the table. They got a few dirty looks from some of the other tables but they really couldn't care less about what other people thought of them. Ryoga thought for a while before answering Ranko, a grin plastered on his face.

"Well, how about this then. To get rid of the awkwardness, we must tell each other the most embarrassing thing that's happened in our childhood." Ryoga proclaimed. The looks he got in response told him that he may want to rethink this idea of his.

"That's a good idea. We'll do it!" Akane declared. She received looks of disbelief in response. It seemed that Akane didn't know what she was getting herself and the others into. There was more deafening silence before Akane spoke again.

"So…who goes first?" Akane asked, not wanting to be the first. Ryoga and Ranko instantly smirked and looked at poor Ranma. Akane quickly caught on and looked at Ranma, with a smirk herself. Ranma blinked before frantically refusing.

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Why do I have to go first?" Ranma asked. He wasn't exactly supportive of his friends wanting to see him squirm in embarrassment as he remembered the moment, which is most likely the reason why they wanted him to start it off. He sometimes wondered why he chose to have such friends who enjoyed seeing him suffer. _Meh, it's the same vice versa I guess. _

"C'mon Ranma! You have to!" Ranko proclaimed, earning nods from Ryoga and Akane. Ranma just sighed in response.

"I suppose I don't have a choice, do I?" He asked rhetorically, knowing fully well that they would simultaneously shake their heads. He sighed again. _Well, I might as well get this over with. _He thought reluctantly to himself, wishing that he hadn't gone on this date now.

"Ok then. The most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me was when I was on a training journey with my dad. We were really hungry and thirsty, until we met a woman in a hut. She offered to give us hospitality for a few days, until we recovered. My dad instantly agreed, as he would. So anyway after a couple of days my dad and I were ready to leave when the woman appeared out of nowhere. It turned out that she wanted something for her hospitality. We asked her what she wanted. She didn't actually know what she wanted until she glanced at me creepily." Ranma shuddered for a moment, before continuing on with his story.

"It turned out that she wanted to keep me in her house. She offered a lot of food for my dad, in return. My dad, being as pathetic as he normally was, agreed to it and almost left me with her. It was then that her husband came in and asked what was going on. After his wife explained what she did, he threw me out of the house, saying something about me trying to seduce his wife or something. Ever since then my dad and I never talked about it." Ranma concluded, still grimacing at his story. He really did not want to have to talk about it. Ryoga, Akane and Ranko all gaped at him, before exploding into laughter. That was the most embarrassing thing they had ever heard in their lives. Ranma's reaction only helped. He was blushing madly in embarrassment.

"Hey c'mon! What was I supposed to do about it? Besides it's someone else's go anyway! Who's next?" He asked, suddenly grinning maliciously at them. The three looked between themselves before Ranko and Akane both pointed at Ryoga. Ryoga was flabbergasted.

"Wait what?" Ryoga asked, surprised at how quickly things just changed.

"It's your turn now, Ryoga. Remember it has to be your most embarrassing moment." Ranma said whilst grinning maniacally, putting heavy emphasis on the fact that it had to be the most embarrassing moment Ryoga ever had. Ryoga gulped before resignedly going into detail about his most embarrassing moment.

* * *

"And that's it." Ryoga finally finished. It had been 10 minutes since he started blabbing on about his moment, which made Ranko, Ranma and Akane end up regretting it. Basically, according to him, his most embarrassing moment was when he ran around the town, naked for some strange reason. Ryoga didn't elaborate as to why he was naked; however it was easily the most embarrassing moment of his life when his father caught him out in front of everyone. The three were shuddering at the thought of being caught naked in front of everyone.

Both girls were surprised when Ranma and Ryoga looked at each other, both simultaneously smirking. They looked at Ranko and Akane both, smiling gleefully. The girls quickly realised what they were after.

"So, who's next?" Ranma asked innocently, despite his face being anything but innocent. Ranko and Akane looked at each other before pointing at the other. Ryoga just shook his head.

"Look, both of you'll have to do it eventually. So, who's gonna go first?" Ryoga asked this time, hoping to hear an embarrassing story from the girls this time.

"Fine, I'll go next." Ranko sighed as she volunteered herself to go. She desperately wanted to get this over and done with. She didn't want to do this but Ranma and Ryoga have already done theirs. It was only fair that she did as well. She thought about what embarrassing moments she had in her life and managed to find one, she was beginning to regret her agreement to this

"It was when I was trying to learn martial arts. My father was helping me improve as I tried fighting properly for the first time. I could do the basic movements pretty well, but for some reason, I couldn't move very well. My dad was just laughing at me, as I glared at him. I was desperately trying to figure out what was wrong. He just stood there laughing for about 5 minutes until he told me that I was wearing the wrong martial art clothes, which was specifically made for a guy. I just stood there in embarrassment as my dad continued laughing at me. I thought the clothes were just uncomfortable but it turned out that it was for a guy!" She stated loudly, still confused at how that even happened. As she expected, Ranma, Ryoga and Akane were all laughing at her plight. _God, why am I friends with a bunch of jerks?_ She decided to stop them from laughing at her any further, as Akane still had to talk about her most embarrassing moment.

"Well, it's your turn Akane. And don't even try to get out of it, because you won't" Ranko added, making sure that at least everyone got their embarrassing story out of the way. Akane looked like she was about to hit Ranko before she began sighing.

"Fine. Let's get this stupid embarrassing story telling over with!" Akane proclaimed. She then began to tell her embarrassing story.

"My most embarrassing moment was when I went on my first day of high school. I had a sports class for my last lesson of the day so I was really eager to finish it and go home. But that day we had to do swimming. The teacher didn't know that I couldn't swim and she didn't believe me when I said that I couldn't. I was really scared when she asked me to show her how well I could swim. I tried getting into the water gently but I ended up falling and drowning in the water. For some reason everyone was laughing at me instead of getting help. Then, eventually, one of the girls said that I was in waist high water and that if I just stood up then I would be fine. Yuka and Sayuri have never let me live it down." Akane stated.

Ranma, Ranko and Ryoga were initially feeling bad for her, until they heard about the part where she was in waist high water. They lost it after that. They managed to have a great night listening to each other's most embarrassing moments. Thankfully the awkwardness had also been lifted. Akane, however, was not amused. She glared at them all, which only managed to get Ryoga to snap out of his laughter. Ranko and Ranma just continued laughing at Akane's plight. After the two had calmed down, the group just talked about various things between them, such as anything funny that happened to them very recently. They did not expect to see someone barge into the restaurant, looking completely shaken. He seemed to be carrying someone on his back. Cologne went up to him.

"Why have you barged into my restaurant?" She wanted to know, demanding an answer from the clearly shaken up man. He seemed frightened of something, as if something was chasing him.

"This woman, I found her injured nearby. There was no phone nearby so I ran here! I need you to call the ambulance immediately!" The man requested. His movements were rushed as he gave the woman to Cologne for examining. Cologne's eyes widened as she recognised the person who was injured.

"Mousse! Call the ambulance! Now!" She commanded, staring him down until he scurried off towards the phone. Cologne's eyes looked towards their table, looking specifically at Ranma.

"Ranma. You may want to see who this person is." Cologne suggested. Ranma didn't know why he had to see the person but he had a feeling that he would not like what he was about to see. He walked over to where the body of the injured person was and looked at their face. He just gaped at what he saw. The injured person was his mother! He didn't know what to think. How could this have happened? Why did this happen? He felt like screaming in anger, in fact he did scream out loud.

"Mom?!" He screamed out, getting a gasp from everyone on the table. They couldn't believe what they just heard. The injured person was Ranma's mother?! Unfortunately, they couldn't really do anything. They just stood in disbelief at what happened next.

A stranger had phased into the restaurant at that moment, which caught Ranma's attention. Ranma didn't know what it was but he had a feeling that this stranger was dangerous, very dangerous. Before anyone could blink, he knocked Ranma out cold by hitting him on the neck. Ranma collapsed in pain, which elicited a gasp from everyone in the restaurant.

"Ranma!" Ranko yelled out in horror, as she saw Ranma fall on top of his mother. She began glaring at whoever struck him, ready to fight if she needed to.

"Pathetic." The stranger had spitted out towards Ranma before merely deciding to drop a letter onto the floor, before he phased away. Everyone was in complete and utter silence. Cologne could only gap at what she just saw. Someone had just knocked out Ranma with, apparently, no effort at all. She assumed that the stranger was also the same person who put Nodoka into the condition that she was in right now. If this was true, this only meant bad news for everyone. Someone with enough power and speed to severely injure Nodoka and to knock out Ranma with no effort at all was incredibly dangerous to everyone. Someone that dangerous was generally unheard of. Even Cologne herself could not track the movements of the stranger. The stranger was in an entirely different league alone.

By this point, Ryoga, Akane and Ranko decided to see the condition of Ranma and Nodoka. Nodoka was deathly pale, which was unfortunate to hear. Ranma looked completely unconscious, which was terrifying for everyone to comprehend. If what they saw actually happened, and it wasn't just some crazy dream, then they would all have to watch their backs. Otherwise they could end up being the next targets of the stranger.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Hey Guys! Here's the next chapter to the story, Chapter 13. Enjoy reading it and be sure to leave a review, so that I know whether you're enjoying it or whether you want me to change/add something. This chapter is also short but don't worry! I'll make sure to make up for it. Anyway, enjoy!

**Chapter 13**

Nodoka was rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible. Ranma was taken there too, just to check if there were any injuries the stranger had inflicted onto him. Everyone from the dojo was alerted to what just happened at the restaurant. They were all there at the hospital, waiting to see what the doctor would say about Ranma and Nodoka's health. Genma was crying at the news.

"Oh how could this happen? My son and my beloved wife are both in hospital! Oh why did this happen to me?!" He wailed in agony, getting sympathetic looks from everyone who walked past him. Normally Soun would berate his friend for being so pathetic but this was not the time for that. They were patiently waiting for the doctor to tell them what was wrong; who had stated that he would require at least half an hour to determine their condition. After a long hour of painful silence, the doctor finally came out of the room. He looked very grave.

"Mr Saotome?" He asked for Genma. Genma leaped up to him, his eyes frantic and worried. The Tendo family were right behind him, anxious to her the doctor's report.

"How are they?" Genma asked, hoping that the injuries were only minor.

"Your son is fine, he was just knocked out. However, your wife is in critical condition. She is very badly injured and will need a lot of time before she can become better again." The doctor stated. Genma facial expression became extremely serious as soon as he heard that.

"How long will it take until Nodoka gets better?" He asked, hoping against hope that it was only going to be a short amount of time. The doctor just looked at him with his grave expression, which meant that the answer wouldn't be good.

"At the very minimum, 2 weeks, however it will most likely take approximately 1 month for her to heal completely, as she has a low chance of surviving." The doctor stated. As soon as he heard that, Genma's expression just became more miserable. The Tendo family were all feeling sympathetic for Genma, Soun especially. He had lost his wife in a similar fashion and now it could happen to his best friend. He knew that Genma would need some time alone to contemplate this so he ushered his daughters to leave the room. Ryoga, who remained quiet up till this point, decided to follow the Tendo family.

Ranko was the only one who stayed with the Saotomes. She was feeling worried for them so she decided to stay behind. She quickly confirmed which room Ranma was in before rushing off to see him, with Genma in pursuit. She needed to talk with him about this. As soon as she got there she saw Ranma just staring into space. He seemed to be in deep thought about something. Genma had decided to talk with his son about Nodoka's fate and about what the doctor had informed them about.

"Alright boy, we need to talk about your mother." Genma said, his voice oozing with seriousness. It managed to even keep Ranma quiet, he would normally just make a snarky comment and move on. Genma decided to continue.

"I'm gonna be blunt with you boy, she may not survive her injuries. " Genma stated directly, not wanting to hide anything from his son. As he expected, Ranma's reaction was extreme, to say the least.

"What?! No way, you're lying pop!" Ranma exclaimed, not wanting to believe what he just heard. He did not want to believe that his mother would never get to see what he actually looked like after all these years. Genma remained expressionless.

"It's true. Now, we need to find out whom that stranger was and we need to show him why you don't mess with the Saotome family." Genma stated fiercely, wanting to beat down whoever the stranger was. Ranma looked at his dad for a moment before shaking his head.

"We can't beat him." He replied softly, which Genma was shocked to hear. This was coming from his son, one who was stubborn to the very end! What was going on?

"Did they hit you harder than I thought? What do you mean we cannot beat him?!" Genma asked, still refusing to believe that they stood no chance against the stranger as Ranma had just proclaimed. Ranma just stared straight back at him, his expression deadly serious.

"You heard what I said, pop! Whoever that person was, they're in their own league. I couldn't see his movement, that's how fast he was. He also just tapped my neck and I was knocked out cold. If he can do that, then we have no chance." Ranma stated. He really didn't want to give up but he had to face the facts. The stranger was ridiculously strong and quick. He would probably end up being beaten in no time at all.

Before Ranko or Genma could even try to object to Ranma's words, a vase, full with a bouquet of flowers, was transferred to Ranma's desk. The nurse said that it was a gift from an anonymous sender. After she left Ranma checked who the sender was. It turned out that the sender was the same person who attacked him and his mum yesterday. He was insulting him by sending this bouquet of flowers. _Hope you get better. We wouldn't want your stupid mother to die while your unconscious, would we? _That was what the letter said. Ranma gritted his teeth. He didn't care for a moment how strong the stranger was. The stranger insulted him and his family!

"I'm gonna get you back for this. I swear it." He growled through gritted teeth, getting very aggravated at the cockiness of the stranger. Genma just smirked at Ranma's words.

"Now that's my son talking! We'll get him back in the name of the Saotomes!" Genma proclaimed proudly, getting pumped up himself by his son's response. Throughout all this time, they hadn't noticed that someone was intruding the room. They merely chuckled before making their presence known by saying the next couple of sentences.

"Don't be stupid, you'll never win. You won't win with your current strength anyway." The mysterious person said. Ranma and Genma turned around quickly to see an old woman, looking at them pitifully. Genma immediately began stuttering.

"Mo-Mother?" He asked, not believing his eyes. Ranko just looked at Genma in disbelief. Did Genma just say that the woman in front of them was his mother? If so, then why was Ranma's grandmother here? Judging from Ranma's expression, she guessed that he didn't know about the old woman being Genma's mother either.

"Hello Genma. It's been a long time, hasn't it son?" The old woman asked. Genma changed his expression back to serious after hearing the tone of voice his mother was using.

"It has indeed. Now tell me, why are you here?" Genma asked. He had a feeling that his mother had probably planned to meet up with him and Ranma for some reason. She merely looked at him before replying.

"Why, I'm here to make sure that my grandson will be strong enough to defeat this stranger. The stranger is not human, so Ranma will need to train before he even thinks about confronting him." She replied, enjoying the looks of alarms on everyone's face.

"The stranger isn't human?" Genma asked. He only got a deadpanned expression from his mother in return.

"That's what I just said!" She replied, getting frustrated at the incompetency of her own son. There was silence for a while before Ranko decided to get involved in the discussion.

"If that's true then how is it possible for Ranma to actually beat them?" Ranko asked. Ranma and Genma both just nodded with her, all looking for answers. Genma's mother just sighed before answering.

"At least the girl has some sense. Anyway there's another dimension we can travel through. I have a special mirror, which is similar to the one Happosai possesses, that will allow us to travel to this other dimension. Now here's the best part, it's created specifically for training and surpassing your fighting ability." She stated. She loved the reaction she got for it. Everyone literally had their jaws on the floor from hearing that. It was always fun to see the reactions of people when she mentioned these things. Ranma was the first to recover.

"Really? There's no way that's true!" Ranma yelled. Everyone else was thinking the same thing. How could a dimension like that possibly exist? It seemed rather too convenient for it to be coincidence. Rumiko just looked at him.

"Don't complain, it's fortunate for us that it exists. Now, are you coming or not?" She asked, beginning to lose her patience.

"Hang on; are you saying that we all have to go to this dimension?" He asked, wanting to make sure that it was what she was implying. She simply nodded in response. Genma looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding as well.

"Alright then, we'll all go to this other dimension. It's the only option we've got." He stated with a commanding voice. His mother just looked at Ranko and Ranma, eying them suspiciously. She then blinked and began smiling at them, making them uneasy.

"So are we ready to go? You'll have to come along with us young lady." She stated, giving her a strange expression. Ranko looked surprised.

"Me? Why do I have to go?" She asked.

"Do you not want to come with us?"

"No, that's not it. It's just, is it really fine for me to tag along?" Ranko asked again, clarifying what she was asking this time. Genma's mother responded almost instantly.

"Of course you can. After all, you're Ranma's friend." She replied. Ranko blushed slightly when she said that. _Hopefully it'll be more than friends later on. _She hoped anyway.

"Ok then. Thanks Mrs Saotome." Ranko replied, feeling generous for the fact that she could stay with Ranma for support.

"Now dear, my name is Rumiko Saotome. You can call me Rumiko." Rumiko stated, smiling warmly at Ranko. She then changed back into her neutral expression.

"So, shall we go now?" Rumiko asked everyone. Genma thought for a moment before nodding in agreement to Rumiko's suggestion.

"Yes we should. The sooner we go the better." He stated, getting up to go. Ranma got up to face Ranko, eye to eye. He had a conflicted look in his eye, Ranko managed to notice.

"You sure you wanna come with us, Ranko?" Ranma asked, still holding the conflicted look in his eyes. Ranko was wondering why he was even questioning that.

"Yeah, of course I'm coming! I'm here to help you out! You're my friend, Ranma." Ranko exclaimed, catching Ranma by surprise. He looked in shock for a moment before smiling.

"Thanks Ranko." Ranma replied, still smiling at Ranko. Ranko was blushing slightly from that smile. _That smile, it's mesmerising! _She was still staring at Ranma, completely mesmerised by him. Ranma looked confused for a while. He waved his hand in front of Ranko's face, trying to snap her out of whatever got her blinked before blushing more fervently. Ranma was feeling concerned.

"You okay Ranko?" He asked, wanting to confirm that there was nothingwrong with Ranko's health. She was still blushing, trying desperately to respond.

"Ye-Yeah. I'm fine. Shouldn't we be going now, Rumiko?" Ranko asked, hoping to move on from this conversation. Rumiko and Genma just smirked at each other.

"What's the rush? You seem to be having a good time, Ranko." Genma stated, his mother in complete agreement with her son. Ranko finally managed to stop blushing and cleared her throat.

"I think its best that we go and not waste time here." Ranko stated, trying to desperately move on. Rumiko finally decided to agree with Ranko, but only because she was also desperate to beat the stranger down for attacking Nodoka.

"Alright then. Get ready, because we're about to go now!" She proclaimed. Genma had cleverly taken the time to write a note to the Tendos explaining what they were doing. He then joined everyone as they began to get sucked into the mirror. Ranko gripped onto Ranma's hand tightly as they were being sucked in. Ranma took a moment to look at Ranko. She was really attractive to look at. _She's been there for me all the time, and so have I for her. _He realised that through those times, they've gotten much closer. He felt a sense of hope as he saw Ranko blush at him. He was hoping, for some reason, that Ranko reciprocated his feelings, even though they couldn't be together. _At the very least, I need to confess to her. I can't keep hiding it. _He decided that when he was finished with the stranger, he would confess to Ranko about his feelings. That way, he'll feel a lot better about himself. _Who knows? Maybe she does like me back? If she does then I have no idea what I'll actually do about it._


	15. Author's note

**A/N:** Hey Guys! I'm sorry but I can't upload this weekend. I've been overloaded with so much work from school that I need to put literally most of my free time into that. Unfortunately, I also need time to relax from that, which takes up all of my free time. Hopefully I'll be able to upload next week, but for this weekend, I just can't do it. Forgive me! So yeah, I'll try my best to upload next week, but if I don't, it means that I have even more work to do. Hopefully that won't be the case (I REALLY hope it isn't). Also, I'll delete this note when I'm able to upload again. Aside from that, have a lovely weekend. :)


	16. Final Author's Note

**Final Author's Note**

Hey guys. Now, I have some TERRIBLE news to share with you. Before I start, I'm honestly surprised that no one typed a raging review saying "OMG WHY YOU NO UPLOAD IN FOREVER? UNFOLLOW!" However, I'm not complaining at ALL though.

Right, it's time for the bad news. For the past 4 weeks I've been trying to complete writing the entire story of Two Ranmas? Why? So that I wouldn't have to give you like 10 more author's notes saying I don't have enough time. Now, I did manage to complete writing all the chapters. Now, you must be thinking, what's the problem then? The very next day I finish writing all he chapters, my hard disk fails on me. Of ALL times to fail on me, it decides to fail on me AS SOON as I finish writing all the chapters. The worst part is that I haven't got a spare copy of any of the chapters (yes I know, I'm a complete idiot for not backing up my files). Now, the total number of words I typed during the entire story was 75k+. Now, I have NOWHERE near enough time to complete half of the story AGAIN, because school feels like giving me 5 pieces of homework EVERY DAY. In other words, I hate school.

Before you start typing the hate messages, again, I'm REALLY sorry for having to do this. I know, I should have backed up my files. I should've done so many other things better, but what can I do about it now? Like I said, I can't complete the story with all the mock exams/tests/INFINITE number of homework I have to do.

If anyone feels like adopting the story, go ahead. It's pretty obvious where I was going with this, so if you want to adopt this, I'll leave the rest up to you. Now excuse me while I go cry and rock back and forth in a corner repeatedly. Bye!

FYI: I'm using a laptop to upload this Author's Note. I'm not lying to you about the hard drive, even though I WISH I was. At least you would have the entire story to read.


End file.
